Rune Breaker
by Ysavvryl
Summary: The dying town of Selphia hopes that a new prince well versed in politics and finances can turn their fortunes around. Instead, the new prince is a cross-dressing love freak who says he's there to save magic. Maybe it will still work out? This is the AntiAmnesia Remix of RF4.
1. ALN

_This is an amnesia free zone! Events and characters have been reworked for this remix, primarily noticeable in altering ages of a few characters. I hope you enjoy this interpretation._

_While the premise of the story is humorous at first glance, it does delve into some dark themes such as death, sacrifice, suicide, manipulation, and such. There is also some nondescript nudity and censored language._

**Rune Breaker (AntiAmnesia RF4 Remix)**

**Chapter 1: A.L.N.**

Winter 89, year 1610

A momentary glance at his sleeve cuff showed that he'd neglected to actually button it this morning. With a soft sight, Volkanon corrected that mistake and turned back to the task at hand. There was a lot on his mind, he realized: the investigation into the disappearance of the last prince, the preparations to receive the new prince today, the second disappearance this season being one of his students, the reports of a Sechs warship flying around in Selphia skies, the current mood of the divine wind dragon, plus all the usual tasks of keeping the castle running every day. These were troubling times.

He looked over the telegraph he'd received recently about when the prince would arrive. Due to the shorthand script, the prince was only referred to by the initials ALN. Volkanon went ahead and put 'Prince Arthur' from his knowledge of the royal family of Norad. He was the youngest son of the high king, but with two older brothers, he was unlikely to inherit that throne. Still, he had an excellent reputation with the skills that Selphia desperately needed in a leader.

And there was a lot that needed to be done here. The town's population was worryingly low for its size. While there was a good percentage of young people, there weren't any children at the moment. Most of the young adults were unmarried and too busy trying to keep the town alive. The general store that everyone went to for basic goods was already on a government grant from Norad to stay in business because it was the center of a frail economy. They had some attractions to visitors like an excellent inn, famous restaurant, and a master florist, but all three of those businesses had been slow to any but residents for over a year. Then there was the whole reason for Selphia's existence, the presence of the divine wind dragon Ventuswill. She'd been almost completely silent for this whole winter and often struggled just to stay awake. If any of those parts were lost, the whole town could collapse into a ghost town.

It was incredibly lucky that they'd gotten the attention of a person so high in the ranks of nobility. In the past ten years, Volkanon had seen a number of rulers come and go, mostly from lower nobles who found it to be an obstacle to trying to climb the ranks. They usually left for a less 'dead end position', as the last (and probably most terrible of the lot) prince has put it. He hoped this true member of royalty could get the town back on its feet and growing again.

And he'd likely be the first to know if it was working, as Volkanon was the butler and personal servant to Lady Ventuswill. By extension, he was the same to her partner in the prince or princess of Selphia. But as much as he hoped for success, he worried about the futures of his two students and if he should pass them on to masters in more active communities. That would give them better opportunities. Whether he did or not, he'd stay behind. His loyalty was to Ventuswill and he'd be here as long as he lasted.

The floating armband around his upper arm vibrated, catching his attention. The gems on it flickered to life and glowed brightly, the main one being red. Immediately abandoning the paperwork, Volkanon got out of his seat and ran out into the hall. He nearly left, but there were footsteps on the stairs as Vishnal came running down as well. "Sir?" he asked, caught breathless in sudden worry.

"Get over to the clinic and warn them there might be an emergency visit," Volkanon ordered. "Then come back here and keep things running smoothly. I'll go after her."

"Yes sir," he said, and the two of them took off across the town plaza in their separate directions.

Following the signals from his armband, Volkanon headed south down the dirt roads in Selphia's countryside. The snowy winter land here was full of hills, cliffs, and valleys, crisscrossed with various crevasses that had to be navigated by series of wooden bridges. They were starting to thaw at the shift in seasons, but still dangerous to travel. At one point, he came across a large fallen tree in the road. He didn't have time to be clearing it fully, so he hammered it to the side of the road on his way past. He might need the road clear on his way back.

He found his other student Clorica in a snowbank by the bridge that led to Rouge Spring and eventually to the mountainous Maya Road. It wouldn't be the first time he'd seen her like that, as she had a curious talent to fall asleep anywhere she happened to be. However, the armband wouldn't have alerted him if she was simply asleep. There was a handmade bandage wrapped around her right arm that looked swollen. Checking on her, she had a fever in spite of the cold and was unconscious. Volkanon got her bag off her to sling over his shoulder, then picked her up and cast a teleport magic to hurry back to town. This was too much to try carrying her back to town the whole way.

He thought about kicking down the clinic door, but as worried as he was, he respected the doctor too much to damage his door that way. Fortunately, an old woman opened the door almost as soon as he got there. "Come in, we just finished getting ready," she said.

"Thank you, m'am," he said, nodding to her. She was currently visiting as a midwife. The town nurse and trained midwife Nancy was almost ready to have her own child, so they'd invited this colleague from another town to help them out. Since she couldn't help, the other two had Volkanon place Clorica on a working bed so she could be examined.

With a cold clinical look in his eyes, Jones undid the bandage and studied the wound. "This is from a gunshot, probably two days ago," he said after a few seconds. "Marjorie, could you work on countering the infection while I extract the bullet? Volkanon, you'll need to leave since I have to set up a surgical sphere to do this."

'I'm not familiar with gun wounds, so is there any poison I need to counter too?" the midwife asked, taking Clorica's pulse at her left arm.

"No, but they're typically made of iron so be careful of the metal runes," the doctor said.

"I trust you folk to take care of her," Volkanon said, then left the clinic area.

Nancy was sitting on a couch in the living and dining space. She seemed tired, taking it easy in the last days of her pregnancy. "This is terrible," she said. "Clorica wouldn't have done anything to deserve getting shot at. But, she had to be near the border with the empire to come across anyone with a gun."

"I knew she was in that area, but she wasn't supposed to cross over the border," he said. "We'll have to wait and hear from her what happened."

"We'll take good care of her until then," Nancy said.

This was truly a bad time. Hopefully their new prince got here safely.

* * *

><p>"Prince, you need to be heading out shortly," the family butler said.<p>

Was it that late already? Signing the paper quickly with 'Arthur L N', he placed it in an envelope to be mailed out later, then checked the clock. The airship he was leaving on was due to depart the castle town in two hours. "There's plenty of time," he said, although he'd want to put off any other business until tomorrow. Or later, depending on how much he had to do in preparing to take the role as the Prince of Selphia.

"No, the knights have determined that we should move you to the airship quickly," the butler said. "There's been some ruffians in the town, thus they want to get you out to a better defensive position in case of trouble."

That worried him. How would the people in town fare? "Is it those rioters from yesterday? What do they want?"

The butler shrugged. "The reports say that they're all from outside of town, so there's suspicions that they're sent from another country to distract and disturb us. And with you heading out near a potential hot zone for conflict, we don't want to take risks with your safety."

"A preview of what's to come, I suppose," Arthur said. But he'd been preparing for that possibility. Selphia was right at the border of the Norad lands and the Sechs empire, the closest town to the empire's capitol. But if that region fell, Sechs would have an excellent foothold deep into Norad territory, near several vital resources and with a good shot at the Norad capitol. When war broke out (and it seemed every day to be more of a 'when' rather than an 'if'), he'd be right in the middle of it.

And the butler knew of that danger too. "I think you should really request a company of knights to bolster Selphia's defenses immediately, before you go. It concerns many of us that you're going right into this."

"I'd rather not until I'm sure it won't be taken as an act of war right off," Arthur said. "But I shouldn't delay going out there now that father's accepted my proposal. Selphia needs a good leader right now; leaving them hanging any longer is a greater security risk to all of Norad."

He came over and put his hand on Arthur's shoulder. "You misheard me, we're worried about you. The way Sechs is acting now, they wouldn't hesitate to take someone like you hostage to put pressure on our kingdom."

"Thank you, but I've made up my mind already," he said. Then he hugged the butler. "I'm sorry. I'll be careful in this, as much as I can be for all the risks."

"Your brothers could learn a lot from your bravery," he said, patting his back before letting him go. "At least I can be sure you'll be in good hands with the servants there. The master of the household is one of the best of us, Volkanon. You can trust him as much as you do me."

"That's good to know," Arthur said, smiling. There was some fear in him because this was a risky move, but the need was far greater than any personal hesitations could stop him. He'd seen it himself in a visit to Selphia this past spring. "If they're going to move me out soon, I should go visit with father briefly. Have my things been moved to the ship already?"

The butler nodded. "I've just gotten notice that they've been secured there. Remember to take care of yourself and don't work yourself too hard."

"I'll try not to," he said, although they both knew that he would work as long and hard as necessary with little thoughts to breaks. He wondered if his caretakers had sent word ahead to keep him from doing so. "I'll miss all of you here. Good bye."

"Good bye, Arthur," he said, a sad smile slipping through his usual façade.

Meeting up with his family was a whole different matter. Arthur had to take advantage of one of the maids stopping to say goodbye to him to send word into the court that he was coming for a quick visit. Otherwise he might end up delayed. With her assistance, he was able to get past the ministers and nobles waiting on their time to speak with the king. That made him feel a little bad for delaying official business with the kingdom, but otherwise he might not get in to speak with his father until evening. It had happened many times before.

Unfortunately, it seemed his father was already in a meeting with Arthur's two older brothers. It was hard enough some days for him to speak to his father, but with his brothers around? The two of them didn't like him at all, taking each other along on training sessions and visits to other regions but never asking Arthur along if they could help it. To make it worse, Arthur always felt self-conscious of his golden blond hair when among the darker blue and violet hairs of the rest of royal family. It wasn't the only way he stuck out like a sore thumb, just the most visible.

"I will be heading out to the airfield early to try avoiding the trouble in town," Arthur told them, speaking formally as that usually didn't cause problems. "I hope it ends quickly and peacefully here."

"Right, it should be over once we capture the instigators," the king said, getting up to come shake his hand. "Thank you for taking on this vital work, although I wish you could do so under safer conditions."

"I will try to make things safer through my work," he said. "Thank you for letting me do this."

And that was pretty much the extent of that goodbye, since he didn't want to trigger an argument with his brothers. It was just how things were and he'd accepted it long ago. Even so, he felt a lightness in his spirit as he left the castle and headed out towards his new life. These burdens wouldn't be troubling him daily any more.

* * *

><p>"I'll be heading out once I'm ready," he said, signing 'A Lest N' on the payment slip that the inn's maid had given him. "And thanks for your courteous service; this place is like an oasis of calm in this busy town."<p>

The maid brightened at the compliment, her previously dull mood disappearing. "You're welcome, sir," she said. "We're glad to provide a respite to travelers."

"If I have reason to come by, I'll try to stay here again," he said with a smile. "Have a good day."

"You too."

Once the door was shut, Lest went back to the mirror in the room and considered his appearance. Yesterday had come with plenty of problems. All that should have happened was he arrived at this midway point by airship then spent the night waiting for the next leg of the trip. He had hoped to have a few hours to look around the capitol of Norad, maybe even pick up a few items he could use that he couldn't buy out in his tiny hometown of Grelin. But then some thugs, apparently a group of bandits, had tried to capture him. Or more precisely, the rune spheres that he was supposed to deliver.

"They knew about them and that I would be handling them," he said quietly to himself, brushing his hands through his silver blond hair. But there wasn't much to think about before another smile crossed his face. "Well then I just need to not look like me. Good thing I packed for…" he laughed lightly and opened up his bag, shifting through the enchanted tabs in order to get the clothes and items he wanted.

He could not use illusions to change his appearance, at least not magical ones. He had a talent as a rune breaker, ruining spells and enchantments unless they followed certain forms. Although, being called a rune breaker was a bit of a misnomer. It was more about breaking artificial bonds formed between runes in the process of casting magic. Natural bonds were just fine around him, which actually made him the perfect person to deliver the rune spheres. They were a set of powerful magical artifacts, ones that played by natural bonds and had a tendency to cause odd side effects in most people who handled them. Somehow Lest being a rune breaker meant they did nothing to him.

While he couldn't use magical illusions, those weren't the only illusions possible. Lest dressed in black leggings and a white slip, both of which slightly altered the appearance of the shape of his body. He then put on a white blouse, a dark gray jacket with a houndstooth pattern, and a black and gray plaid skirt. Adding on black sneakers, a necklace made from a light crystal, some casting gloves, and a gray beret, he looked much like a young woman in a school's uniform. The bandits would be looking for a young man from a farming village, so they might look past a 'her' trying to find him.

Lest closed his main bag, then made sure that the bag with the rune sphere was secured to the inside of his jacket. Back when he'd been packing for this move, he and his family had found that the rune spheres messed with the enchantment on the bag even though they had made it with his talent in mind. Then there was how important they were, not just to him but to the bigger picture. He wanted to know right where they were with no chance at misplacing them. Now that he was prepared, he took his things and slipped out of the inn, trying not to be seen and questioned by the staff. He'd already paid in full, no need to get word spreading that he might be disguised like this.

He spent a few moments thinking over the events of yesterday again. It had all started with something unexpected: his sister and father taking him to the town square where nearly everyone in town had gathered to say goodbye to him, wish him luck on his mission, and most surprising of all, apologize to him. "We realized that you have been working hard to help everyone in spite of how our superstitions led us to treat you," one woman had said. "The fact that you'd do that when some of us believed the worst of you, we feel awful about it now. We're sorry for everything.'

"You don't have to explain it," he said to them. "I feel it; I forgive you. Just remember how important love is. We are loved by the world and we love it back, meaning we need to show love for all that is in it."

Yes, they were loved by the world… more precisely, most who lived in Grelin were those so loved by the world that it had given them great blessings to become earthmates. While the blessings were freely given, all earthmates were then required by the laws of magic to return the blessings given to them. Usually it was through a price that represented a service the earthmate could offer the world. Lest subtly cast a few spells over potted plants and sidewalk trees as he walked along the capitol's streets, as that was part of his price. But more important than that was the idea of love. They were given a deep love no matter who they were, no matter what mistakes they made. Thus, it was only right to give back a love that would freely forgive to the world, and forgive all who lived in the world. Even the bandits, although it was still his mission to keep hold of the rune spheres until he got them to where they needed to be.

His father had spoken to him about that as they were saying goodbye outside of the airship. "You're off to complete your mother's dreams. It's going to be dangerous around Selphia in coming days, so be careful."

"I know, but it's too important to ignore," Lest said. "And it's more than just mother's dream, it's our whole family along that line for over a thousand years."

"Right, absolving more guilt and countering more hate than any one person could solve," his sister Frey had said. "I wish I could go too, but there's other things I need to do in fixing this whole mess. But we'll fulfill our family's quest, I'm sure of it. You're perfect for the job."

"Not as much as you are," he'd told her.

But that was all in the past. It put a personal weight on this for him, even more so than the time he'd realized how long his mother's family had been trying to solve this issue. It was all about the flow of runes, the ether sea that was the source for magic to earthmates and all others in the world. It was about the gods and dragons and hate and love and sacrifice… his role now was delivering the rune spheres, but even something so simple needed to be taken as important as any other part. Although anyone else walking on the streets might just think he was lighthearted in singing words they didn't understand as he headed for the airfield.

Runes of aggression caught his attention, making him look ahead. There was a group of three knights in full armor walking along with a young nobleman not far from him; they were facing a group of rough characters that Lest recognized as the bandits that had known about the rune spheres yesterday. In the latter group, there was a new man who stood out among them like a lurking nightmare. While the bandits wore leather armor and rough headbands, this one was dressed in full armor so complete that not a hint of the person in it could be seen. The effect was only sharpened by the glossy black metal the armor was made out of, the sunlight reflecting in a dark red gleam. A battle scythe of a piercing white was attached to his side and even Lest couldn't read any emotional runes in him.

Pausing with a shiver at the armored thug, he wondered again about these bandits. The rune spheres were not spoken of to anyone outside of Grelin and he'd assumed for a long time that they'd been a secret for generations. Then again, people made mistakes and perhaps word had slipped out a few times. But why now, at this crucial time?

"We're after your spheres, you dumb ****," one of the bandits said, causing some confusion in the nobleman.

"Wait, is this the same guy?" another asked, causing more confusion. But there was also a streak of pride in the bandits (save the cold armored one). They weren't going to back down now that they had picked a fight with royal knights.

"There seems to have been a misunderstanding," the nobleman said, keeping a remarkable surface calm in spite of the threat. "Still, you will not be allowed to get away with causing such chaos in the streets of the capitol."

"Don't be so cocky, we're after something much bigger," a bandit said.

To the shock of everyone, the armored bandit suddenly grabbed hold of his scythe. Lest could feel his gaze more sharply than an arrow. "The earthmate must die," he said in an inhuman tone and dashed with some mechanical device right past the nobleman and his knights, knocking one of the latter over. He was headed right for Lest.

With a slight golden glow, Lest quickly cast a shield with his gloves. While it wouldn't last, it lasted long enough for him to hurl it into the armored bandit to stun him briefly. He then ran past the group and hurried on the way that he knew would take him to the air field. A fight between the regular bandits and the knights broke out as he did, but once the armored bandit recovered, he ignored the nobleman in favor of pursuing Lest. Chaos broke out in the streets on the way, mostly at the rushing man in armor rather than the running girl ahead of him. While the armored bandit didn't seem to be using his dashing power all the while, he did so occasionally to close the distance. Lest was going to need something more to buy enough time to get to the airship. If it was in already. He hoped so.

He approached an open square in front of the gate that led down to the airfield, seeing an opportunity in how people were already clearing the area due to alarms sounding in the city. But the casting gloves wouldn't be enough. Using them to summon a staff, he skidded into a stop in the center of the square. Metal runes were gathering powerfully around his opponent, indicating that he could use rune abilities and was charging up for a big one. But that was the chance Lest needed.

"I am the Executioner," the armored bandit bellowed, shifting his hold on the scythe in preparation for the ability. "All earthmates will fall to my blade." A shine came to the deadly blade. His momentum and mass in that armor was going to make this even more dangerous.

Lest clasped the staff in both hands, trying to ignore the dread in his heart from knowing that a mistake here could be his last. Focusing his rune energy and making those lines appear on his skin, he used his talent to break runes right as the Executioner started his rune ability. The attack fell apart as it was trying to form, with the bandit able to perform the physical movements but suddenly finding himself at the center of the released energy. The Executioner dropped to the ground with a tremendous din. And in that, Lest finally found some emotional runes in him, not what he had been expecting.

Even so, he couldn't let go of this chance. Lest turned and hurried through the gate, the guards on duty letting him pass in favor of trying to capture the Executioner as the apparent instigator. Out in the airfield, he spotted a familiar airship to his relief. He headed right for it as he was no longer being followed.

A woman with her brown hair in a bun was on the ground by the ship. "Morning Lest, what's the rush?" she asked.

"We've got to get out of here soon, Nem," he replied. "Bandits know about the rune spheres and they were accompanied by some guy calling himself the Executioner who's out to get earthmates. He identified me just on sight."

"Mercy, yes, let's get out of town," she said, changing her work to getting the airship off the ground as soon as possible. "Let Lena know and we'll hurry."

"Thanks," he said, heading up the boarding ramp into the ship. Hopefully that armor couldn't get the Executioner into the sky. But he wondered about what he'd felt from the man. Fear and hopelessness? That didn't match up with his actions, but the heart usually spoke the truth.

* * *

><p>Arthur wasn't accustomed to fighting going on just a few feet from him. For once, he found himself wishing he had gone out with his brothers on battle training exercises. One of the knights pulled him aside to better protect him while the other two kept the bandits busy until the city guards could come by to take over. He also worried about the girl who had run on ahead only to be chased by that man in monstrous armor. Even if he was moving out of the capitol, it was a concern to him that people were being harassed here where they should be safe.<p>

An earthmate… was she one? They were a rare group he'd never met in person, mostly sticking to a few small villages with incredible farms. Although, there were reports in the last few decades of various wandering earthmates who settled into regular communities on some directive from their elders. There wasn't a lot that could be researched on them as they kept many of their secrets close in their tribe. As far as Arthur could tell, they did more good than harm with no reason to come into conflict with others. But the armored bandit had seemed intent on killing her.

"Let's fall back to the castle," one of the knights suggested as he was able to get out of the street fight.

"I'm going to need to come back out here to get to Selphia," Arthur argued. "Let's get to the ship as planned and hunker down there. We can use the side streets if need be."

"That's probably better overall," another knight said, so they entered an alley to reach a quieter street and head for the gate to the airfield.

They did get held up once again as the armored bandit was apparently captured in the square outside of the airfield's gate. The guards there seemed unsure about if they could hold the man, even though they had him under what seemed to be several restraining spells. Once again, Arthur wanted to go ask questions and figure out what was really going on. But for his safety, the knights with him wouldn't allow it and barely agreed to try sneaking out the gate through the guard's gatehouse with him. This got him to the royal airship where he was promptly put in the safest room below the deck and told to stay there.

Arthur didn't like being treated like this. Sure, he was better at talking his way out of a problem than fighting, but he didn't like being considered weak and helpless. He amused himself for a moment in thinking of how his brothers would be much more vocal about their independence. But since he'd be waiting for some time before they even left the capitol, he found his books and brought out one on farming. That was one thing about this position as Prince of Selphia: he'd be expected to do some farming in order to fully fulfill the role. It was odd, but a strong tradition in that region. However, that was something he had no experience with. He hoped they would be tolerant as low skill as he learned.

But he'd also have to balance the threat from the Sechs as well as addressing problems within Selphia itself, like their stagnating economy. Still, Arthur was looking forward to this. It was a great opportunity to prove himself.


	2. Dangerous Skies

**Chapter 2: Dangerous Skies**

Winter 89, Year 1610

"To all airships flying within Selphia's air space and the surrounding area, we advise you to turn back and avoid coming into the area this afternoon. A warship from the Sechs Empire has been spotted flying there and has not responded to Norad Air Control Center with answers to their intent. They may have only been targeting a royal vessel scheduled to fly today, but we cannot be certain how aggressive they may be. Again, please retreat from Selphia air space. Continuing to travel is at your own risk."

"I wonder if they know about us too," Lest thought aloud. Turning his attention from watching the land below, he headed over to the pilot's loft at the front of the ship.

Up the short flight of stairs, the navigator and pilot were also wondering about the radio warning. "What a day to have the same flight time as a royal ship with the Sechs watching like a hawk," the navigator said, nervous but determined not to let that feeling interfere with the task.

"NACC would know about that, but they wouldn't know about our cargo," the pilot said, even more determined. She had long black hair streaked with icy blue, wearing a headband with an insignia of Terrable readily visible. While it often seemed odd to others that an earth focused earthmate was an airship pilot, Helena would laugh and say it was all in the machinery.

That, and her loyal navigator Nem was wind focused; the pair were getting famous for their skills with an airship, even outside of the great kingdom of Norad. "Maybe," Nem said, glancing aside and nodding at their passenger. "What do you think, Lest? Should we press on? We're only a few minutes from Sephia's air field."

"You two would know better than me," Lest said. "Although if we're that close, we might as well rush for it. The mission is going to take a while and I'd rather there not be too many delays."

Helena grinned as soon as Lest mentioned rushing. "Right. Besides, it'll take us longer to get out of the danger zone than to just get there first. I'm pushing the speed up a notch, so you better not have anything loose on ya."

Below them, the wooden deck of the airship throbbed between the surrounding air turbulence and the increased rumble of the engines below them. There was an air shield around the ship to keep things from blowing away, but at the speeds Helena was bringing them to, some cool wind slipped past and blew through their hair and clothes. Lest looked ahead at the banks of white puffy clouds in the sky. Since it was mostly clear blue sky, they should be able to spot a warship before it got too close. He clutched the leather bag with the rune spheres close to his side; a sparkling blue mist leaked out from the top no matter how tightly he knotted it.

He saw something just above the nearby rail that disrupted his thoughts. A tall tower? Going over to the front, he saw that it was a tower, a few miles from the castle at Selphia's center. It looked ancient even from this distance, monumental stones and statues rising far above the earth like a fox watching the land. Yet there was something strange about the way runes were moving around it. It surrounded the tower in a dark mist and at points, there seemed to be a forest past the thickly clustered runes instead of a tower.

Nem came up beside him, her brown hair tied up into a bun as she always did while working. "Isn't that an unexpected sight? I nearly slipped off the ship trying to get a good look at it the first time I flew by here."

"What's with that place?" Lest asked, shifting the bangs of his hair aside trying to keep them from blowing into his eyes. "The flow of the runes is all knotted up, like some kind of critical mistake was made in setting up a large enchantment. It's Leon Karnak Tower, isn't it?"

"Yeah. It's even worse than your disasters, huh?" she asked, smiling to let him know it was in jest (although he'd know even without).

He laughed in embarrassment. "That's true. I've certainly not caused anything that tremendous."

Nem put a hand to her cheek. "I asked around and apparently it's something that's been building up slowly. The initial descriptions were that it was simple illusions while passing through Karnak Tower. Over time, the illusions became more dangerous, manifesting as actual monsters. These days, people are forbidden from going anywhere near the tower because there've been many deaths from people trying to explore the place and fix whatever went wrong." She shook her head. "Really stinks for the guy it was named for, you know? Because people revere him as a saint and martyr, but then that place has such a powerful curse on it."

"Is it a minor flaw that built up into something major?" Lest asked. Enchantments that went wrong, especially spectacularly so like Karnak Tower, always did so for a reason. Of course, there was always the possibility of, "Or because of Ventuswill?"

"Never found anything definite, but neither answer would surprise me," Nem said, then waved a hand at the sky. "You can tell that the flow of runes here is stagnant."

He nodded. "Right, and it's spreading all over. I heard they finally got the Sharance Tree to bloom, but it was just barely and took a lot of persistent effort. Even the elder isn't sure how long that can last unless..."

After he failed to finish that, Nem put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm really sorry that you had to end up with this mission. If it ended up in my hands, I'd be all kinds of nervous about it failing. Such dangerous places to go, even there."

"Even if you are better aligned for it?" Lest asked, looking down at the railing. "I want to fulfill my family's dream, but I practically just learned about it this season. It's an awful lot of weight passed down through the years."

"Hey, you can at least look on the bright side of things," Helena called from the pilot's wheel. "You get out of that stuffy old town to a place where nobody knows what to expect out of you, a fresh restart in life. Sure you've got this big thing hanging over you, but you're out of those critical eyes and where you're freer to be yourself. I'm sure you can get things done that way; you always seem to get things done best once you get out of Grelin."

"I guess so," Lest said, feeling better.

Nem brightened at some thought. "You do! And don't worry too much about that marriage deadline. Love will find you when it's ready, not caring how much time you have or if you're even ready to realize it yourself."

"Father says he won't let me inherit anything if I don't get married in five years. Although if I'm getting a fresh start, maybe that won't matter as much." Then he laughed. "And sure, you tell me that after you made most of the tribe mad at you for what you realized."

The two women laughed with him, Nem blushing a little. "Well that's what I found to be true."

"Bah, who cares what those stuffy folks think?" Helena asked. With fewer connections there, she had an easier time not caring. "They made up that ruling trying to get everyone born into the tribe married by twenty-five, but I think they've lost sight of what really makes an earthmate. That majority hardly has any power left to them while I came in without an earthmate to be seen in the family tree. Sure, our numbers are dwindling, but it's more their beliefs and misunderstanding than anything else."

"That's what Frey would say," Nem said, nodding. "And she's the one they called a sage before she was an adult."

"Right," Lest said. Funny how he'd been anxious about this mission ever since he was assigned it, but these two were making him feel more confident about it in a few hours. It didn't change the solemn nature of it, finding a way to strengthen the runes of the world from something that seemed like a sickness of the earth itself. But it had to be done. "They at least seem to be realizing it, even apologizing to me before I left town."

"That's wonderful," Nem said warmly.

He looked back out at the landscape, including the tower of twisted runes. Maybe this could fix even that. Wanting to talk of lighter things before they had to part again, he said, "Besides, if they really want me to follow their marriage ruling, I had to leave Grelin at some point. The only marriageable girls in town were my sister and you, and you've always been more like another sister to me. And Gwynn, I suppose, but by the time she gets old enough to be married, I'd be right up by the deadline. Might as well be somewhere without much of an earthmate presence like Selphia."

"Just don't be mentioning that law to anybody you meet in Selphia, brother," Nem said, half teasing him. But she was serious as she added, "Because really, if you're going to marry someone, the law should only be a small portion of why."

"I'd even say try to put it out of mind entirely," Helena added. "You don't want that kind of pressure pushing you into a choice you'll regret later on."

"Thanks, I'll try to do that," Lest said. "I'll just use white paint over any lines in letters I get from my father asking me about that."

Helena laughed with him. "Good idea! But do you want to be changing out of that skirt before you get into town?"

"I probably should," he said with a played up resistance. "It's just so comfortable."

The pilot winked. "You know Lest, if you want to make that change in your life, we're one hundred percent behind you. And this would be the perfect time to start, telling all these folks you've never met your true gender identity. Got a girl's name picked out for yourself yet?"

However, Nem was distracted and that distracted him from the joke. She looked out towards a cloud they were approaching, increasingly concerned. Seeing that in her runes, Lest felt worried before she hurried back over to Helena's side. "Lena, they're cloaking the warship in that cloud!"

"How're they cloaking with a cloud?" Helena said, narrowing her eyes and shifting out of her loose hold on the steering wheel. Her nerves were like steel and it showed in times like this. "They don't have magic."

"The air currents flow around something too heavy for a normal airship," Nem said. "If they're going to approach us, they'll do so in a couple of minutes."

"We look like a normal private airship, don't we?" Lest asked.

"Might recognize the colors from recent races, but we don't have anything like the royal flags," Helena said. "Shift into the landing angle early to get some better distance?"

"Give it a try," Nem said, looking back to the cloud. "If we do get into trouble, I can always cast a featherfall spell on Lest and have him jump."

"Are you sure about that?" Lest asked, moving closer to them.

"We really need to get you and the rune spheres into Selphia to start your mission as soon as possible," Nem said, her face calm but her fingers twiddling and betraying some anxiety.

"Come on, don'tcha trust your sisters?" Helena asked, a dangerous smile on her face. She liked this danger on some level, but her concern was real as well.

"I trust you two not to mess up," Lest said. "But I'm a rune breaker."

"If it's for your safety, I'll make it as strong as I can," Nem said, bringing a hand to her chest. "Just trust me; that may hold the spell together long enough."

It was unsettling that even she couldn't say that for certain. All of his life, Lest had been far better at breaking spells than making them, with years of training going into trying to cast a few simple coherent spells. But with his survival on the line, he might just be able to hold back long enough to keep her spell together. "All right, if we must."

At that point, it became obvious even to the two of them not as attuned to wind that something was fishy with that cloud. It was not moving with the air currents as it should be. Instead, it was headed directly for them, picking up speed. Helena made some quick decisions, twisting a few dials that pulled more heat into their balloon and shifted the propellers so they made a quick rise. This move saved them when the Sechs warship burst out of its cover in an attempt to ram them. Still, that wouldn't buy them much time. Nem's airship Graceful Schooner was unarmed, while the metal-plated warship was bristling with spikes and cannon ports.

Nem picked up the radio handset and, after taking a deep breath, transmitted in a flustered tone. "Ah, we-we're sorry if we've disrupted something! Pl-please, let us through to the air field, we're just a civilian vessel."

Unlike with NACC's announcement, the warship responded to their transmission. "We know you're not," a deep raspy voice said over the radio. "You will hand over the rune spheres that you're transporting. There is no other option."

The three of them looked to each other, Lest being sure they had the same questions as him. How did the Sechs know about the rune spheres? Their creation had been a guarded secret within Grelin as the answer to a long standing problem. While Helena and Nem were partial outcasts, they only knew because Lest had told them. He'd even insisted on them flying him to Selphia rather than hiring a pilot outside the tribe. They wouldn't have had time to let the information slip and he was certain they would not as they knew the importance of his mission. But those bandits had known too.

"Right, we're gunning for over Selphia Castle itself," Helena said, determined to finish her part in this. Her hands flowed over the controls rapidly, with only a slight delay in the airship following along. "You better get ready because we're gonna get there fast."

"There's going to be an increase in turbulence, Karnak at 85 degrees starboard," Nem said in warning. Then she took Lest by the arm and went with him to the lower central part of the deck. "Sorry we have to literally drop you in this time, but Grace is going to have a rough time outmaneuvering a Sechs warship and its fire."

"It's fine," Lest said as his heart began racing. Jumping off an airship, even with a successful featherfall spell on him, was something he'd never even imagined doing. He smiled to shake off that fear. "I don't know any other crew that would have gotten this close with the danger of a warship being about."

"Are you calling us brave or stupid?" Nem asked happily. "This is for a brighter future, I'm sure of it."

There was a bone rumbling boom in the air as the warship fired its first shot at them, although it must have missed as the ship Grace didn't tremble at all. "That's the reason I'm willing to go this far before I've even started," Lest said, putting a hand on the rail. "And I know your spell should work."

"You take care of yourself," Nem said, lines of green chi starting to appear on her arms as she began her spellwork. "Lena and I will try to check up on you as soon as we can safely get back here. Whenever we drop in, the people of Selphia are really nice, so I'm sure you'll be fine for a few days."

"I'll do my best," he said, shifting his hold on his two bags so he could feel one of the rune spheres. 'Help me hold this together and survive,' he thought as the green lines left Nem's skin to weave a pattern around his body. 'I need to get you where you belong.'

When the pattern was complete, runes flashed within it and made him feel like someone was clasping him tenderly. "This should slow as you approach the ground," Nem said. "But if you end up at a roof top, you can kick yourself away as long as you only make contact with one foot. Both will make the spell assume you landed safely, so try to do that when you're on a secure surface."

"Okay," Lest said, although more cannon fire disrupted him. Pulling himself up on the railing, he looked down to see where he was over. The castle and the small town around it was rapidly approaching. It would be a beautiful sight to admire while landing. With the warship firing on them, there was no time to sightsee, only to sight for a possible safe landing spot. "I'll see you two later! Get out of here safely!"

"You too!" Helena called, although most of her attention was on keeping the ship away from the warship's fire.

"Time to prove the doubters wrong," Nem said in encouragement. "You can do this, Lest."

"Thanks for everything, Nem," he replied, smiling and hoping that what fear he had wasn't visible. Then he jumped off the ship.

It was a lot like falling in a dream, in a slow manner where the wind itself seemed to be guiding him down. This would work, it would work. As long as he kept thinking positively and trusting his friends, this would work. Lest brought the bag with the rune spheres to his chest to secure it, only to notice that the knot had begun unwinding. That would not do. He went to grab for it with his other hand and make sure it stayed closed until he could get back on solid ground and tighten it. However, the powerful air moving all around him slowed his movements and quickened the knot's unraveling.

Then the tremendous boom of the warship's largest cannon sounded again, the shockwaves of its energy hindering him more. Lest looked up and saw the last of the bright trail of energy from the cannon pass by the Graceful Schooner. Next, he saw the gaping hole it had left in the lower decks of the airship. Had it taken out the lower engines? Could they still fly? The answer to the latter question shifted quickly towards no as flames erupted around the edges of the hole.

"You two better jump too," Lest said, trying not to become frantic. But they wouldn't be in this danger if he hadn't asked them to come, or even to continue not that long ago. He just wanted to get things started quickly; was all that a mistake?

Then a flash of blue nearly hit him in the chin as the knot completely unraveled and sent the rune spheres flying in all directions. This was turning into a real disaster, like anything he tried to do as an earthmate. Like how Nem's runes were beginning to unravel the longer they spent around his rune breaker power. The wind clenched its grip tighter, but he was slipping through and falling faster now. No, stay together! He tried to will it to do so, will his own runes to not interfere with the featherfall enchantment.

Two tall spires appeared at either side around him, shimmering in the sunlight with long flags waving in the turbulent wind. Spires? Those were at the sides of Selphia Castle, weren't they? Remembering Nem's advice, he tried to turn himself back upright and find a decently flat space to land even if he was going to end up on the roof. And right as he noticed he was directly above a peculiar huge gap in the roof with a mound of mostly green in the center, the featherfall spell failed completely and he wasn't given a moment to think before crashing onto some large creature and bouncing off to hit the hard marble flooring.

Lest barely hear the creature's yelp and screams of surprise as intense pain filled him. But he was alive. That much had worked. As large feathers brushed against him, he tried to move out of the way. His body didn't want to work as battered as it was, taking a great deal of effort just to shift himself onto his back. Cold snow started soaking through his clothes, but it was only a discomfort and therefore minor. The colorful feathered wing by him was attached to a large body with grassy green scales, but held a comparatively strong flow of runes through its native wind power. Wind? Was this Ventuswill?

"I'll go get Jones," a man said quickly as what seemed to be his footsteps started running off.

"Be careful out there!" another man called in a booming voice. After a dazed moment, Lest found an older man with bushy hair and eyebrows leaning over him. He wore a formal black suit coat with a blue tie, as well as a floating armband that momentarily fascinated Lest. "Are you alive?" Another boom from the warship's cannon caused him to look overhead in worry.

"Ye-yeah, mostly," Lest said, not feeling well in trying to speak. He ran his thumb under his fingers on both hands, going through a ritual he used to get around his rune breaking power to cast spells. Normally he didn't need it these days, but he had a better chance of living past this if he could get a healing spell on himself. It was uncertain in any unknown place how many people could use magic.

"G-good heavens, was that a person who fell on me?" the dragon said, shifting her body away from Lest. Even her natural runes radiated her flustered state.

"Did you get hurt too, Lady Ventuswill?" the man asked, looking up at her. A girl with spiky gray hair was briefly in Lest's vision, along with possibly other people. Taking shelter from the warship?

"It might ache a little while, but, er, I mean," Lest didn't feel like moving, but he could just about see Ventuswill rubbing a wing against her snout. "I will be fine," she said, in a deeper more regal tone. "He could be in trouble, though."

Lest finally managed to cast the healing spell he knew; his sister Frey could have cast it in a snap, even under similar circumstances. While it turned down the intensity of the pain, the fact that it was still there told him that this was a more serious injury than he could handle. Definitely at least one broken bone, probably more. It might hurt to talk, but he was worried enough not to care. "M-maybe, but... my friends..."

"You probably shouldn't talk," the man suggested.

"Lena and Nem were still on the ship when it caught on fire," he forced himself to say. "They got me off... might have jumped with featherfall too, hopefully."

"But that's earthmate magic," Ventuswill mumbled, seeming to not realize it was audible. But then Lest's vision blurred further and his mind went blank.

When he felt alert again, there were two men carefully shifting him onto a rolling bed. The one who seemed to be the doctor from the equipment bags at his side looked over how he was set. "Good, but we'll need to keep him under a roof here in the castle for the moment. The streets are too rough to take him over in this condition. I'll have to bring over some equipment; do you have a spare room with the space?"

"We can shift the furniture around in the bedroom to make space," the other man said in a hearty voice. He seemed to be the one from earlier.

"It'll have to do," the doctor said, then made eye contact with him. He seemed to have pale skin, as well as an underlying anxiety he was trying to restrain. But maybe Lest was imagining that as he was. "Oh, you're awake again. Try to relax and get to sleep for now. You need the time to heal."

"All right," Lest said, starting to feel drowsy now that the doctor had mentioned it. "But..."

"I sent some folks out to search for the crew of the downed airship," the larger man said. "Still, if you made the descent, I'm sure they made it somehow as well. Focus on getting yourself back together. What's your name, if you don't mind?"

Maybe it was the man's formal dress or maybe it was his shaken state of mind. Either way, he started to say his full name even as he felt his voice and energy taper off. "Arthur Lest Nolan."

And maybe the doctor had given him some medicine already, as he couldn't resist falling asleep any longer.

* * *

><p>Her room was buzzing with activity and gossip, something that Ventuswill hadn't seen for a while. In the past, she might have enjoyed the scene even if it was caused by serious trouble. An alarm had sounded through town when a flying warship, bristling with spikes and loaded with strange weaponry, had been spotted overhead waiting in a suspicious fashion. Most of the people in town had come into the castle for safety, although others were still in the clinic due to Clorica being wounded. But it turned out that the warship wasn't interested in what happened on the ground. When it finally attacked, its attention was on another airship trying to slip by onto the town's airfield.<p>

However, Ventuswill felt as if she'd just woken up from a really long sleep, not able to invest herself in the scene enough to have any opinions on it. Not even someone dropping right on top of her could keep her mind stirred for long. She was tempted to just put the whole thing out of mind and go back to sleep. It was a lot easier than letting her thoughts go on for very long.

But there were too many strange things about this to make it easy to let go. First of all that he'd fallen right on top of her. Very few people came in the entrance up in the roof and those who did (like birds) usually were capable of landing without hurting themselves. Then there were the gold chi lines on his skin when he tried to heal himself. That was an earthmate trait. She shouldn't have any problems this time, as there was no one she could think of that would be endangered with an earthmate around. Still, they had a knack for getting into and causing trouble. Ventuswill was going to have to be cautious... if she could keep awake long enough to be cautious.

There was also the oddity that the townsfolk were most interested, the fact that this fellow had dropped in wearing a schoolgirl's uniform, skirt and all. "Um, Lady Ventuswill?" the girl named Xiao asked nervously. She wasn't sure if she should bother her with the question. "Are you sure that was a certain man that fell over here?"

"Very sure," she replied. "His runes showed him male in body, mind, and soul." Occasionally you got a human who had mixed genders in those three aspects, but most were the same in all three.

"But then what was he doing dressed as a girl?" Xiao asked, profoundly puzzled by this.

"I wouldn't be able to speak for him on that query," Ventuswill said.

"I've met a few guys like that," Xiao's mother Lin Fa said, smiling at some memory. "It's either they lost a bet or are completely confident in themselves and feel unrestrained by normal expectations."

"It could also be a disguise," the elf Illuminata said, with a spark of eagerness triggered in her. "It's an ideal distraction if your enemy knows who you are. If they expect a man, appear as a woman. If they expect a woman, appear as a man. If they expect an elf, appear as a dwarf."

There just happened to be two dwarves in the room. One merely gave her a strange look while the blacksmith Bado laughed. "That last one would work up until you started talking," he said.

"An expert would be able to pass that test even," Illuminata said in glee. But not very well in tones that mimicked a dwarf.

"Maybe he knows that he's so beautiful that he has to show it off properly," the portly Porcoline suggested as a joke. "Although it's hard to say that when we've only seen him injured."

"What's wrong with a guy striving to look beautiful as a guy?" the other elf in the room, Margaret, said. "Though you have to give him some respect to be brave enough to flaunt normal dress codes."

"Or to jump off of a flying airship in the middle of battle," Xiao said. "If it comes to be that he did jump. It may just be that he got knocked off in the big blast."

"Oh no, I'm certain he jumped," Illuminata said, tapping her monocle. "I identified the runes about him and there were fragments of a featherfall enchantment on him. But some nefarious scheme on part of his enemies must have ruined him on the way down." She paused, starting to pace. "An excellent but difficult scheme because in order to undo a spell while he was falling, his enemy must have incredible range and precision in not just spell casting, but rune breaking."

"It's hard enough to break runes when your target is an unmoving object," a young man Kiel said, having followed the conversation with strong interest. "The bonds between them don't like being broken once they've been made. It must take a master to disenchant someone who's falling, even slowed down with something like featherfall."

"I've got it!" Illuminata said, pounding one fist into the other. "That has to be our new prince!"

"What?!" most of the people in the room asked, amazed at her intuition or floored by her insane jump of logic to that conclusion.

She chuckled, pleased with herself. "Well that's just how the pieces line up. That warship was waiting up there, waiting for someone to arrive. The only person we were expecting to arrive today was the prince, so perhaps the empire decided to interfere as an act of war. They did blast that airship to pieces without giving them a chance to explain themselves."

"The prince wasn't going to arrive today," Kiel said. "My sister said that the royal airship headed back to the capitol once reports of the warship arrived by telegram from us. They decided it was too dangerous to fly with such an important person on board."

"Well that's just what they wanted the Sechs Empire to hear," Illuminata said, pacing again. "They even prepared two airships to come out, the obvious royal airship and this second unmarked airship which would actually carry the prince, a classic switcheroo. However, the empire seems to be cleverer than NACC expected as they managed to guess which ship the prince was actually on and fired on it as soon as it showed. But the prince is apparently so dedicated to his duty that he literally jumped ship to make sure that he could arrive, only for an enemy mage to undo the spell that was to bring him here safely."

"Then why was he dressed as a girl?" Xiao asked, still stumped by that point.

"Further confusion on where the prince was," Illuminata replied as if it was an obvious answer. "Doesn't work so well when you're trying to hide the identity of someone on one airship and your enemy is on a whole different airship cloaked in a cloud."

"That would be an amazing story," Kiel said, intrigued.

"Except that the Sechs Empire is known for being strongly against magic," the other dwarf Doug said, the first time he'd spoken up the whole afternoon. "They couldn't produce a mage capable of the feat you suggest."

"Well how much do we really know about them?" Illuminata insisted. "For all we know, their guns could be based in magic too."

Well the conversation and fabrications were interesting, Ventuswill mused. They had yet to bring up the fact that the young man was an earthmate, and a rune breaker at that. However, it was unlikely that any in the room aside from herself could tell that already. That gave the simpler explanation that he'd used the featherfall enchantment in desperation even knowing that his own runes would start undoing it as soon as he set it. Still, she liked Illuminata's version of events for how dramatic it was.

Jones and Volkanon then came back into the room, the former waving to Bado to act as extra security as he headed back to his clinic. The town knight Forte had apparently stayed over there to guard the patient, nurse, and white witch who were staying over there. "How is our fallen guest?" Ventuswill asked her butler.

He had a serious look on his face; the fact that they were dealing with a man dressed as a woman didn't sit well with him although most of the others didn't seem all that bothered. "We've got him stable, but he's going to be in a dangerous state for a little while yet," Volkanon said. "He did come back around and give us his name."

"Is it Prince Arthur?" Illuminata asked, jumping at the statement.

After a sigh, Volkanon nodded. "Yes... it's Arthur."

Even Ventuswill widened her eyes on hearing this. So that was the prince that the royal court had sent them to rule over Selphia and try to save the weakened community? It was strange as none of the talk about this in front of her had mentioned that the prince was an earthmate. For that matter, none of the talk she heard on the wind mentioned that fact either. All the talk had said was that he had a very good reputation as an educated and intelligent young man. And dressing as a schoolgirl usually didn't make for a man's reputation rated at very good.

"Wow, I think things are about to get quite interesting in the future indeed," Xiao said.

"No kidding," Volkanon said.

* * *

><p><em>AN: I'm a bit eager to get this story rolling; updates should appear weekly after this point._

_Xiao Pai is a bit of a pain to write for, even though I have a reference for it. One of my friends speaks like her; she's a really intelligent woman who knows five languages, but English was her first Latin derived language and she'd only known it for a couple of years when I first met her. But going off some advice, I don't plan on mangling all her lines with her speech impediment, just enough for some color._

_Rune Factory technology is lots of fun to guess at and work with, on the other hand._


	3. Lest's Mission

**Chapter 3: Lest's Mission**

Winter 81, Year 1610

On their twentieth birthday late in the winter season, Lest and Frey went through a rune review as a long-standing custom in the earthmate tribe. They were adults and, having been born into the tribe, they were expected to have completed their training. A meeting with the village elder would include a discussion of what paths they would follow, what kind of work they would do in the tribe, what talents they would focus on mastering, and anything else the elder believed needed to be settled to accept the young earthmate as a full member of the tribe. Since Frey had completed her training many years ago, her review was mostly an official confirmation of being a sage and a blessing for whatever she wished to do.

Lest knew his review was going to be completely different. Of his teachers, only his late mother had accepted his progress in training. The rest believed him to be insufficient for any rank higher than student (and some only accepted that grudgingly). Or they believed him too troublesome as a rune breaker to keep in a town inhabited mostly by members of the tribe. However, he was determined to prove that he was different from the angry boy of six years ago who had lashed out at the villagers of Grelin. As he knelt in front of the seated elder, he recalled the indifference, fear, and hostility in other members of the tribe. But there was also the love and confidence that his father, sister, and friends always felt for him. Letting the rest of the emotions go by, Lest kept calm and collected, clasping his hands on his legs.

The elder was stern; her emotions were kept close, unreadable even to him. "Your spell ability is far below what a young man your age should be. You may never be capable of what people expect out of us."

"Spell ability is not the only measure of an earthmate," Lest replied. It was one of many criticisms they had. While he did have a long way to go, it would stop his progress if he only listened to the flaws. One step at a time, always trying to move ahead.

"What makes an earthmate?"

"Love," he answered. "The earth's blessings are given out of love; those given such blessings must give back that love tenfold into the world to maintain their power. To do this, take care of the earth and the plants that grow from it. Respect all beings that live upon it. Give help to neighbors and strangers alike with no heed to rewards. Most of all, always remember that love is central to the powers of the earthmate tribe."

"That is an old phrase."

"It is truth." And what too many of them seemed to have forgotten.

"What job do you seek to hold?" was a question asked late in the review.

It was getting to be a long time and Lest was tiring from kneeling in the same position. Trying to keep any fidgeting in check, he answered, "I would be satisfied focusing on my price in farm work, growing basic crops to keep others who focus on other work fed. I might grow specialty crops in order to build a nest fund in case of poor growing seasons, but my priority would be towards supporting the town I live in."

"That would be fine work for someone who is in tune with the natural flow of runes," she said, to his surprise. The elder had seemed indifferent to him whenever they encountered each other. "However, you may have noticed that the rune flow is slow. It has been a significant problem that we're trying to find a solution for."

"I notice it moves quicker around certain events, such as marriages and festivals," Lest said, going with his first thoughts as he hadn't expected that topic to come up. "But when I'm out in the countryside, yes it does seem sluggish and I wasn't sure if that was how it was supposed to be."

"Do you think it should be that way?"

He shook his head. "No. It doesn't feel right."

She had a long explanation for him. "The flow of runes through the world is one whole system like all water belongs to one whole system, yet both are broken up into several seas where runes continually flow through their currents. Norad is ruled by a single ether sea of runes, with the heart of the system being in the land of Selphia under the reign of the divine dragon Ventuswill. Unfortunately, the heart and the dragon have been weakening. It's not a new problem, but past solutions have only proven temporary. We have a new solution that we hope will help support the system.

"You know the rune spheres that Frey and your mother have been working on? They're made to be boosters placed at the springs where the flow of the runes is pumped. Frey in particular discovered that since the artifacts mimic the natural state of rune energy, your power does not affect them adversely like other runic artifacts. After some consideration of you and other candidates, I've decided to ask you to take the spheres to Selphia and place them at the rune springs. You'll need to stay in Selphia for a time of five years to make sure they function as planned and address any conflicting problems that may arise in the area.

"You will also serve Ventuswill and carry out any requests she gives you during those years. It is a long tale, but she has had some bad encounters with earthmates before and may have trouble trusting you at first. However, you have a strong heart and in spite of past troubles, you have grown into a man that I believe can break past that hesitation and gain her acceptance. If you can accomplish this mission, we will accept you as a full member of the tribe, perhaps even a master of your own power."

The request stunned him and for a moment, he wasn't sure what to say. When he did find the words, Lest asked, "You really want me to carry out this vital mission?"

"It is partly the wishes of your mother that I'm respecting, but I now believe what she said about you."

When word got out, there were those who fully expected him to fail. The elder remained convinced that he was the best choice. Once he got over the shock of being asked, he quickly agreed to do it. It was a great honor, one he never thought would happen. It would also get him out of Grelin, which was something he was hoping to do. While he would be leaving his sister behind, he had far more opportunities anywhere else in the world and Selphia seemed like a good place to start.

* * *

><p>Spring 2, Year 1611<p>

Along with being in disbelief over the assignment going to him, his neighbors had not liked that such an important mission would be getting help from a pair of young earthmates who had defied the new tribal laws about marriage. But it wasn't the village's choice. It was Lest's mission and he'd go with who he trusted.

Nem and Helena... had they be found? Lest came out of his half-asleep state at that thought. Maybe someone in town had news of them. He wasn't in as much pain, although he had groggy memories of spending at least a few days in bed. A comfortable bed, but he'd feel better after some activity. Lest sat up and looked around the room he was in.

It appeared to be a clinic, albeit a small one. It had a warm cozy feel, with some dried autumn grass sitting in a vase to add color to the wooden room. Close by, there were a few rolling screens for privacy, including one blocking his sight of someone in the other bed nearby. His bags were on a chair nearby, thankfully in reach. A pair of windows were covered by white dotted curtains. When he got up to pull the nearest one open, the orange sunbeams of dawn spilled across the walls.

Dawn, as he knew it would be. Lest smiled a little as he remembered one of his mother's sayings, that you would never find an earthmate who could sleep once the sun awoke. And if one of them did, they were probably ill. Still, there were a few bouts of childhood illness where both he and Frey had trouble staying in bed like they were supposed to. The sunlight warmed and awakened the earth, and the earth would awaken the earthmates.

Still, he felt weak in the chest and his left leg, having to lean on a supply cabinet in order to let the sunlight in. Both areas on his body were bound in white bandages, the latter being solidified into a cast around his knee and below. He'd been dressed in a pale green gown for resting. Annoyingly, the buttons for the gown seemed to be at his back so he couldn't get dressed on his own. That meant he didn't dare go out on his own, even if he could get the hang of walking around in a cast and bandages. Some careful steps got him to a bookshelf where he picked out a traveler's guide to Selphia to read in bed until someone came to check on him.

Curious, he glanced around the screen while he was there. He could barely see the feet of someone in the other bed. But her runes spoke clearly enough for him to tell it was a woman a year older than him there. The runes were weak in recovering from an illness, but she would be able to get up herself once she woke up. Lest tried to keep quiet as he made his way back to the bed with his book.

He was reading through the legend of the dragon priest Leon Karnak when he first heard footsteps overhead. Three people, he guessed. After a few minutes, they came downstairs talking in hushed voices. A woman's laughter broke through, soon followed by the man hissing for quiet only to break out in soft laughs himself. There was a powerful love in that, the ripples in rune energy pulling his attention away from the book. Without even seeing them, he could tell this was a couple that had no doubts in each other. If he was right about the quality of the ripples, they might even be looking forward to a new addition to their family soon. The third didn't seem to be related by blood, but was on friendly terms with them.

The man came right to the clinic area to check on them, first the girl and then Lest; it was the doctor he remembered seeing right after his fall. His light brown hair had a touch of bedhead to it and he was dressed casually without his doctor's coat. Seeing him up, the doctor smiled warmly. "I see you're up bright and early today."

"Oh is he?" the woman (probably his wife) asked, following after him. And as Lest thought, she was expecting very soon. This week, perhaps even today depending on various factors. The third person, an older woman, looked in on them briefly before going to check on the other patient.

"This is more normal for me," Lest said quietly, setting the book on the bedside table. "Although usually I'd be out in the fields at this point."

"Well if you're energetic enough to get over to the bookcase, that's a wonderful improvement," the woman said cheerfully. "You've been out for three days, even missing the passing of the old year and coming of the new."

"You should be more careful in getting around," the doctor said, searching for a pocket on the coat he wasn't wearing. His wife handed it to him without a word so he could get his gloves.

"Probably, but I have work I need to get started on here in Selphia," he said. And he needed to get his strength back so he could get to searching for the rune spheres. "If I could at least get around town today, that'd be fine."

The doctor nodded. "We'll see about that Arthur."

"Er, call me Lest," he said. "I haven't gone by my first name in years."

"Sure thing, Lest," the woman said. "I'm Nancy, the nurse around here, and this is the doctor and my husband, Jones."

Lest nodded. "All right. Good to meet you both, even if it should have been under better circumstances."

The two of them agreed, then helped him get out of the patient gown and bandages to get a better look at his chest injuries. The bruising had apparently gone down, but Nancy mentioned there were still healing scrapes on his back and left side from how he had hit the floor. While it might make him uncomfortable, they had to wrap his chest back up once the area was cleaned so that the weakened skin and bones had protection. His ribcage hadn't fully cracked, but his left knee and lower leg had broken. He wouldn't be allowed to bend that knee for quite some time.

"And no strenuous activity, although you can see how walking around on crutches affects you," Jones said as he was securing the chest wrapping. "I have to say, you are healing faster than I'm used to. That is a trait of earthmates, isn't it? I haven't treated one although I have studied up on the tribe."

"Regeneration is with some of us," Lest said. "But that cuts out farming then? That'll slow me down for a while."

"Are you one dependent on farming?" Jones asked. "About the strength of your body's rune energy in direct correlation to plants you take care of."

He nodded. "Right, it's the price we pay for our blessings."

Jones closed his eyes to think, while Nancy joked, "I guess you can't take out a loan on that, huh?"

"No, not really," Lest said, smiling.

"I'll send a note to Volkanon that you should be allowed some simple flower seeds in a pot while you recover," Jones said. "That shouldn't be much work for keeping your energy stable."

"Sounds fine," he said. "Sorry for switching subjects, but is there any news on the crew of the airship I came in on?"

"Oh yes, they were found safe and sound not too far from town," Jones said. "It seems whatever trick you all used to escape worked better on them. Their ship was completely wrecked, unfortunately."

"They seemed really sad about it," Nancy said. "Still, they came to visit you every day. They might be at the inn. If they're up, we should invite them over for breakfast."

"Yes, that's a good plan," Jones said. "Especially since it seems like it'll be hard to keep you in bed now."

"That'd be great if they could come over," Lest said with a nod.

"They're such a lovely couple," Nancy said happily, heading out to get Helena and Nem. That made Lest feel better about moving here to Selphia. If they'd accept his two friends, he shouldn't have much trouble finding his place too.

"Let's get you into some clothes and try out some crutches," Jones said, heading across the room to pull out some things from a dresser. "We could clean up the outfit you were wearing, but we couldn't get your bag to open and weren't sure if you still wanted to be dressed like that."

"I can get my other clothes from my bag," Lest said, reaching over to undo the lock. It was set so that it had to be his runic signature to unlock, making it quite secure. If only they could have resolved the conflict between the bag and the rune spheres... then it clicked about the last thing Jones had said. "Oh wait, I was still in the school uniform when I got here, wasn't I?"

"Well, yes," Jones said, a little embarrassed and not sure if he should mention it more specifically. He came back over with a package of clothes that he seemed to have gotten. "I did borrow some clothes from Kiel just in case, since he's about the same size as you are."

"All right, I'll have to thank him later," Lest said, taking out a dark brown shirt with a blue diamond on the front. The shirt had a removable sleeve jacket in white, useful since he could wear the main part while farming and put on the longer jacket when he wouldn't be dirtying them. Some matching pants and his usual boots, well boot, should be fine. Deciding to be lighthearted, he added, "I was trying to fool some bandits that were tailing me and it almost worked, except that one of them still identified me as an earthmate. Somehow in the hurry to leave and get here, I forgot entirely what I was wearing until a few minutes before the warship showed up. I swear, I'm not such a ditz every day, but sometimes..."

Jones chuckled, accepting that explanation. "I can understand. Sometimes you get so busy that what you're wearing at the moment is completely out of mind. Or what your hair looks like." After helping Lest get dressed, the doctor handed him the crutches and led him into another part of the building to see how he handled it.

The older woman gave them a sign to remain hushed as they walked past the other patient, a young woman with long lavender hair. Once they were in the living room area, she said, "She should wake up soon; seems like she's going to be just fine after all."

"That's good," Jones said. He then introduced Majorie as a visiting midwife, but declined to speak of the other patient right away.

A few minutes later, the three women returned to the clinic. "I knew you'd be up on your feet once you woke up," Nem said, giving him a brief hug in greeting.

"And I'm really relieved to know you two got away," Lest said, trying to hang onto his crutches while being hugged. "Sorry about making you lose Grace."

"It's fine, we all got out with our lives," Helena said. "We can replace the airship, but can't replace a friend like you."

While Nancy and Jones went to prepare breakfast and Marjorie went to see about waking the girl, Lest and his friends sat at the dining table and talked about what happened. "When the capitol heard that they attacked an unarmed civilian vessel, they sent a company of knights to increase security on the ground along with increasing patrols in these skies," Nem said. "We went back out to the crash site the other day to see if we could salvage anything, but there was a skirmish between the imperial soldiers and the knights so we couldn't get close."

Helena glanced into the kitchen to see their hosts talking merrily with each other. Then she leaned forward and asked in a hushed tone, "So what about the stones?"

"The knot came undone when I jumped and they went flying before I could secure them," Lest replied in equal quiet. "And right after we found that the empire somehow knows about them; I figured something would go wrong, but not that soon."

"It's not your fault," Nem said, clasping his hand.

"We didn't mention them to the NACC officials or the knights who questioned us," Helena said. "We wanted to see what you would say once we noticed you didn't have them. As long as they didn't find any before that skirmish, you might have some time with Norad's forces being alert to the Sechs' presence here."

Nem nodded. "And with all the raw rune energy those things output, they're going to attract monsters. Nature could be your saving grace this time."

"I hope that'll happen," Lest said. "Better the monsters than the Sechs. Anyhow, I'll have to get my strength up to go searching for them. Since I can't do that right off, setting my roots first seems like the way to go."

"That's pretty much what Granny said when I wrote her," Nem said. "You should write her this evening and send it off with the next post ship. We've already arranged a trip out of here in a couple of hours to get back to the capitol, since it'll be easier to get a new ship of our own there."

"Yeah, we'll be sure to check on you here in Selphia once we do," Helena said.

"I could write the letter this morning if they'll let me borrow some things," Lest suggested. He certainly didn't want to leave his family waiting to hear of his recovery and it'd be quicker to get a letter delivered through the capitol's post office.

However, Helena grinned with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes while Nem smiled as if thinking of something amusing. "Oh no, you should wait a few hours and see what today brings," Nem said.

"Am I in trouble already?" he asked, looking back and forth between them.

"I kind of wish we could see how this plays out in person," Helena said. There was definitely something going on here that he didn't know about. "But Selphia's not a busy port and we have just enough time to share some breakfast before we've got to run for the airfield. Otherwise we could be waiting nearly a week to get to the capitol."

"I'll send you a note with the c/o address where we'll be, so we can hear about it too," Nem said, delighted in whatever this was.

"Are you even going to hint at what you're talking about?" Lest asked, although he suspected the answer was no.

"That's no fun, so of course not!" Helena said, raising the volume of her voice. "You never get such a perfect storm of coincidences every day, but it's not my place to trip it off."

He laughed it off; better than letting himself get worked up into a state near dread. "Fine, but this secret better be worth it."

"It totally is," Nem said with a girlish glee, then promptly blushed for doing so. "I mean... you really won't regret coming here, I'm sure of it."

"What's this perfect storm you mention?" Jones asked, coming over with a plate of sausage patties and a pitcher of orange juice. Nancy wasn't far behind with a bowl of scrambled eggs for everyone to take what they wanted.

"It won't be perfect if we said anything more now," Helena replied, waving her hand in a joking manner. "But it will be clear once it happens; I'm sure you'll hear of it."

"Then this will be a fun day?" Nancy asked, delighted at the thought. "Great! There are times when I think Selphia could use a good shaking up. Lest falling out of the sky helps, but if it's going to be bigger than that, I can't wait!"

"I'm not sure how things could get more shaken or stirred up than now," Jones said. "It's already an interesting time."

"You're tempting fate," Lest said, right before there was a knock at the door.

"That could be true," Nancy said as Jones got up to answer it.

"What's the trouble now?" the other patient asked sleepily, coming in with Marjorie. She was wearing a short sleeve white blouse and black pants, simple attire but it was partly because she had a bandage wrapped tightly around her right arm. She got introduced as Clorica, apparently a butler at the castle.

"We don't really know, but it should be fun," Nancy said with a smile.

"Some fun trouble would be a nice change of pace," Clorica said, getting some breakfast for herself once she sat at the table.

At that point, the doctor came back. "Well, it seems that Ventuswill already knows you're alert. That was one of the castle butlers with a message that she's asked you to meet with her once you were finished with breakfast."

"Told you so," Lest said, making the others laugh.

Even with that request there, they continued talking after the meal was finished. The only thing that stopped them was a check of the time when Helena and Nem had to catch their flight. "I really wish we could stay around," Nem said as they all left the table. "This is always such a nice place to stay. And don't worry about paying us back, Lest, it's no trouble at all."

"For the flight?" he asked. "We already discussed that."

She smiled. "No silly, for the doctor's bill. We paid Jones for taking care of you."

That surprised him. He figured there would be a bill with the injuries he had, but they had taken care of it? "Really? You sure that's all right? I figured you'd be pulling funds together to buy a new airship."

"Meh, we've done enough favors for NACC that we can probably earn one if we agree to work with them for a spell," Helena said. "On the other hand, you've got to get settled in here with nothing but what you brought. Couldn't leave a friend hanging like that. Just pay the generosity forward, as always."

"Of course, thank you," Lest said. He'd have to get a lot of generous things done to do so. Then again, it was what he was intending to do in Selphia. "And thank you to you as well, Jones. Especially for agreeing on the flowers for me."

"We're glad to help," Jones said, his words holding true sincerity. It could be seen with his runes that he loved taking care of others. "If you could, would you ask your elder about sending me a reference on health specifically for earthmates? It'd be a big help since you're moving in."

He nodded. "Sure, that should be fine."

After saying goodbye to the doctor and nurse, then an unfortunately short goodbye to his old friends, Lest and Clorica made their way along the cobblestone streets towards the castle. This was a beautiful town, he thought, like an antique work of art. No two buildings were quite the same, although they all had a rustic warmth that made any one of them seem like a welcoming home. Close by the street he hobbled on, a stream gurgled along in peaceful coexistence; a finny splash showed that the waters were inhabited too. Other people walked and chatted as well. Not just humans, as he spotted a dwarf with curly blue hair adjusting a sign outside one of the businesses. The town hadn't seemed large from the air, yet the rune flow seemed relatively robust now that he was here. Some of it was the presence of a divine dragon. Still, he could tell that there was a good sense of community.

At the end of the street, they came upon some stairs leading up to the town plaza. "Can you manage these?" Clorica asked. "It's the same amount either way we go, but we can head to the next street in order to take them in two sets rather than one."

It would've been no obstacle, except that he needed the crutches to keep weight off his broken leg. They were shallow and wide at least. "I'll try here," he said. Deciding to take them one at a time, he shifted the crutches up to the first step and pulled himself up to stand on it. The next step had a loose pebble on it, so he brushed it aside with the right crutch just in case. Clorica went up slowly just behind him. Although with how her runes seemed weakened right now, she might not be much help if he slipped.

"Do you need help with that, Arthur?" a woman asked, coming across the plaza towards him. She wore the blue and silver armor of a knight. While she had long blond hair, she kept it in a practical ponytail out the back of her helmet so it wouldn't be in the way.

It puzzled him for a second that she seemed to be talking to him, but then he remembered that Jones and Nancy had called him that too at first. "No, I think he's got this," Clorica said as he was halfway up already.

"And please, call me Lest," he added.

"If that's what you like," she said, stopping at the top to keep an eye on them. "We're glad you've gotten better, although we wish your arrival had been in a safer manner. I'm the dragon knight of Ventuswill, Forte Greenwind." Forte put a fist to her chest and bowed her head in a respectful manner.

They were expecting him? That seemed odd since the elder hadn't mentioned contacting Ventuswill about the rune spheres. "Good to meet you, Lady Greenwind. Yeah, I didn't mean to drop in literally, but by the time we got warning of the warship, we were almost at the airfield."

"I see." She gave a sheepish smile. "Well not much a warrior of the ground like me can do about a flying warship. And if you're going to be informal with us, feel free to call me Forte. Most people in town do." While waiting on him, she smiled at Clorica. "And great to see you up too. I was really worried when I heard you'd been shot."

She'd been shot? That was strange to Lest. While he'd heard about guns, he thought they were supposed to be so impractical that few were actually used. "I almost made it back to town on my own," Clorica said, slightly embarrassed in that she hadn't. "It didn't seem so bad other than hurting, but I guess it was."

"You shouldn't ignore an injury like that," Forte insisted. "Although, you were a long ways from town." Now that they were both up on the plaza, the knight decided to walk with them to the castle just in case.

It was a beautiful castle, made of vibrantly colored stones in a graceful nearly weightless look that reflected the divine dragon herself. Even from the outside, it was apparent that the building was split into three portions. The middle section held a partial roof, open to the sky in case the dragon wished to fly over her territory. With its high ceilings and lack of walls, it was a grand airy space to meet with her; it was a major honor to meet with any of the divine dragons. On either side of Ventuswill's sanctuary were mirrored sections of castle three stories high, with the spires he'd seen on towers reaching even higher. The town plaza was right at the castle's walls, making it quite a setting for festivals and other gatherings.

Inside of the dragon's sanctuary, Ventuswill waited patiently. Her long neck and spread wings reminded Lest of a swan, but her body was more like that of a lizard. She had a warm and gentle air around her, but her emotions seemed both constricted and muddled. Although, there was no telling if he could really use the cues he got from runes to decipher the emotions of a goddess. He could tell that there was a strong source of stress around her, an age-weakened body trying to maintain the work she did in her prime.

Forte made the same salute as before, but bowed at the same time. "Lady Ventuswill, our Prince Ar... I mean, Prince Lest has come to meet with you."

"Wait, what?" Lest asked, stumped at the introduction. Was this what they were talking about? But how? "Since when am I a prince?"

Ventuswill tilted her head curiously, while Forte looked just as stumped. "Um, that is what you came here for, right? To help out Lady Ventuswill and Selphia."

"That is the purpose behind my mission," he replied. "But I wasn't told that I'd be expected like this, or that I was supposed to act as a prince."

"That's odd," Forte said, rubbing her forehead and looking at Ventuswill as if she wanted to say, 'What do we do now?'

Ventuswill was looking right at him, as if contemplating the same thing. It made Lest feel uncomfortable, so he said, "I think there's been a mix-up, since..."

"Wait!" The man with the booming voice ran in from the west wing of the castle, bowing apologetically. "I'm sorry for being late, but I had just got word that the royal vessel had landed and..." he paused, looking at Forte, Clorica, and Lest as if realizing the conundrum here. "Wait, what's going on here?"

"We're trying to figure that out," Lest said. "I don't think I properly introduced myself due to my condition, but my name is Arthur Lest Nolan, from Grelin. I go by Lest, though."

At this point, another pair entered the room from the main entrance. There was a man with loose blue hair wearing a black suit with floating gold armband much like that of the older man; he was leading the other guest into the room. This young man, about Lest's age, was dressed in a mixed fashion between nobility and travelers. Most notable was the colorful patterned cloak, but everything from his pants to his half-frame glasses were obviously of high quality and expense. Still, it was tasteful compared to some other noblemen that Lest had seen when they visited Grelin on business from the capitol.

"Pardon us," the blue-haired man (were all three of them butlers?) said. "But I've brought our guest," he noticed Lest there and hesitated.

Fortunately for him, the nobleman took over, coming forward to bow to Ventuswill. "I'm sorry to arrive so late, but we got delayed due to the incursion of the Sechs warship. I'm Prince Arthur Lest Norad, sent from the capitol to help run Selphia's government."

There was a twinkle to Ventuswill's eyes, but she kept her amusement guarded beyond that small sign. Speaking in her regal tone, she said, "Well then, we seem to be in quite a pickle as we have two Prince Arthurs."

* * *

><p><em>AN: His name is Arthur D. Lawrence in the game, but once I got the idea to name them both Arthur Lest, I wasn't about to let it go. There's a few others that get their last names mentioned in game, but not all. And yes, I did bump up the number of days in a season/month to 90. Makes more sense and puts their year just a few days short of ours._

_I always felt it was unfortunate that Jones and Nancy didn't have their own child. They're such a nice loving couple. Although, there's a few lines that indirectly suggest they try to address that issue, so it seems to be something medical in nature._


	4. The Riddle of Two Princes

**Chapter 4: The Riddle of Two Princes**

Spring 2, year 1611

The actual prince was caught speechless, but by that point Lest was seeing what was going on. And just like they'd said, this was a perfect storm of coincidences. "Huh, never thought I'd meet someone who had a name near identical to mind save for two letters," he said.

"Oh really?" Arthur asked, looking at him in strong curiosity. "Especially for an uncommon name, this would be highly improbable."

"What's highly improbable is that you both seem to have come for the same reason and should have come on the same day," Forte said in a thoughtful manner. Most likely she was trying to decide if one of them was lying.

"Perhaps," Ventuswill said. "How about you both explain your missions in depth, as if speaking to someone who doesn't know about it? Because there's a good chance someone doesn't. Norad, you first."

Arthur smiled at that, pleased enough in the riddle to go along with it. "As you wish. After the last prince of Selphia abandoned the position for unknown reasons, there were several discussions in the royal court of who to appoint here. It's been a troubling matter that the region's economy has been slowing towards a dangerous point over the past decade. There have also been many complaints from travelers on issues in Selphia, such as road outages and lack of accessible locales for sightseeing. The court believes that if an effort to make Selphia more interesting for tourists was carried out, the economic issues may be corrected in a few years. Plus you share a border with the Sechs Empire, which is a nation we've been keeping a wary eye on recently. That undermines the whole effort anyone puts into this plan. These issues are of personal interest to me, so I volunteered to come and do what I can to keep the community thriving."

"And what about your delayed arrival?" Ventuswill asked.

"Ah yes, that," he said, a brief moment of annoyance showing before what seemed to be his normal professionalism held strong. "When the Sechs warship was spotted, the captain immediately turned our ship around and wouldn't bring me here until they were certain the threat was gone due to my status as one of the high king's sons. I had to do some convincing to get them to bring me today instead of next week."

"That's what we were expecting, which is a help we could use greatly," the divine dragon said. "Now then, your turn Nolan."

He couldn't be sure what would start building trust with Ventuswill, but the truth should be the best starting point. "I'm an earthmate student from the tribal village of Grelin, where we have been researching the gradually weakening flow in the Norad ether sea. It's sluggish in many parts of the country, affecting crop production and the aggressiveness of monsters. As we are greatly affected by the natural flow of runes, it's an important issue for us.

"The heart of the Norad ether sea is here in Selphia, with you as its core Lady Ventuswill. Others are still researching what this reoccurring problem is, but we have come up with support artifacts called rune spheres. According to our theory, when placed at the four springs in Selphia, the spheres will greatly stimulate the flow of runes, stabilizing the whole nation's flow until the deeper issues can be properly identified and corrected. I've been sent to set the spheres here and remain in the area for at least five years to make sure they function, take care of any related issues, help out Lady Ventuswill however I can, and act as a local contact for the tribe. On the trip here, we heard about the warship as well as the royal vessel being pulled back, but our ship was so close that we decided to land anyhow."

"Were you on the vessel that got attacked then?" Arthur asked. "I'm very sorry about that."

He nodded. "I was, but it wasn't what you were thinking. When the warship came at us, they contacted us over the radio and demanded that we handed over the rune spheres. It was a total mystery to us since their creation has been a close secret within Grelin for a few decades now; no one outside of the tribe should have known, but they weren't the first to try getting the spheres from me. While we couldn't fight back, we decided that it was more important that I get into Selphia and place the rune spheres as soon as possible. So I ended up jumping out of the airship, only for the support spell to give out too soon. Hence why I'm like this right now." He patted the crutch under his right arm.

Arthur seemed thoughtful and it was at that moment that Lest knew he'd seen Arthur before. He was the nobleman he'd come across when he'd met the Executioner. "I see. Then it seems this may not be the first time we've been confused. I've been stopped by brigands twice in the past week trying to get rune spheres from me, but I had no idea what they were talking about."

"Then where are your rune spheres now?" Ventuswill asked.

"I got hit by the shockwave of one of their big cannons and lost hold of them," Lest admitted. "They should have fallen around the area. Even if they're not in place, they hold a great deal of runes and so will be obvious and attractive to monsters. I'm hoping for that, since it'll be easier for me to get them from the monsters than if the Sechs soldiers managed to find them."

She closed her eyes. "There has been four unexpectedly strong points in the land. They move around in ways to suggest that your hopes are granted and they're in the possession of monsters rather than humans."

"That's good," Lest said. "But all I really need for my work is a place to stay and some farmland near town, once I'm free to get around again."

Arthur had his hand on his chin, then nodded. "I see. In that case, I believe it would be best if you took the position as Selphia's prince, Nolan."

"What makes you say that if you were the one who volunteered for it?" Lest asked. It was a generous offer, but something had to be behind it.

He was amused as he asked, "How much research on Selphia did you do before arriving?"

"Apparently not enough," he said, making Forte nearby chuckle.

"It's fine," Arthur said. "The prince of Selphia is not a position of full political power beyond its borders, being more of a community leader. I can instruct you on the specifics later on, but one of the primary responsibilities of the ruling prince is taking care of the castle's farmland." He turned a little embarrassed as he said, "I have to admit that I've been uncertain how well I could handle that part of the job, as I've never farmed before. But I know how important it is to earthmates and honestly, I think I can fulfill my assignment better as a trade manager and adviser. And your assignment would be better fulfilled when you live close to Lady Ventuswill here in the castle, right?"

Hearing that, Lest wondered if Selphia had originally been an earthmate community. Making the town leader in charge of the most central farmland was expected in such places. "Right, so it wouldn't take me long to arrive if I was needed. What do you think, Ventuswill?"

"It would make me feel more comfortable to have the fields in good hands," she said, looking over both of them. "You two will need to assist each other to work at your best, Arthur with his political and financial expertise and Lest with his farming and runic expertise. Will you do so whichever way things are decided?"

"Yes," they both replied.

She nodded. "Good. Then because the farmland is an important aspect of the job, Lest will be the Prince of Selphia and Arthur his adviser. Forte, go ahead and spread word of this through the town so people are aware of it."

"Yes, my lady," she said, saluting and heading out on her task.

"I'm a touch weary so we'll have to discuss more about this later on," Ventuswill said, trying to keep a dignified pose even though she sounded tired. "Arthur, you'll be need to find a place to stay, but I'm sure that won't be hard."

"Certainly, although I'd have to find which buildings are available," he said.

"Pardon me for interrupting," the older man there said, "but you could check with the inn to see about a place to stay temporarily, or with the restaurant as I believe the owner has unused rooms and an office there. Both are on the northern street; I could send one of my students with you to show you the way."

He smiled. "No, I'd like to look around town myself first. Thanks for the tip; I'll see what's available there." Then he bowed to Ventuswill. "And thank you for understanding. I hope we can make Selphia a better place."

"I'm glad you feel that way," she said. Once Arthur was on his way out, she yawned briefly. "Sorry. It seems you still need some time to heal, Lest, so today it may be best simply to make yourself acquainted with the town and those who live here as well. Volkanon and the others will show you around the castle… whichever parts you can get around at this point."

"Okay, we'll speak more later," Lest said. Hopefully just him and Ventuswill; it might help to speak to her alone.

The older man waved to the three of them to go through the doorway on the right. Ventuswill was already nodding off. "Good thing we got this sorted out peacefully," he said once they were in the doorway. "As she said, I'm Volkanon, butler to our Lady Ventuswill and with you being the prince, to you as well. These two are my students and assistants, Vishnal and Clorica. Feel free to ask us for help on anything; we're here to serve you."

This was going to take adjusting he hadn't planned for, he thought. "Thanks, though I'm not all that used to being served."

"It's all in the job," Volkanon said. Then he turned his attention form Lest for a moment to smile warmly and hug Cloirca. "And it's great to see you back home; I can't imagine what you must have been through."

"Yes, it's great to have you back," Vishnal added happily.

"Aw, thanks," Clorica said, glad and not at all embarrassed at the attention even if Lest was pretty much a stranger. "I knew I had to get back; I found out some important things, but I can tell you later."

"Excuse me?" A voice came from the doorway, stopping them from continuing. It was Jones with an envelope. Smiling at them, he added, "Good, I got you just in time. I heard a bit of what happened; you'll have to tell us sometime when you're free."

"Sure, that'll be fun to tell," Volkanon said boisterously.

"Is this about my treatment?" Lest asked.

He nodded. "Yes, I figured I'd better come over now. Volkanon, Lest needs to have some flower seeds to take care of while he can't do regular farm work. That's what'll help him best through this injury."

Volkanon took the note as Lest had his hands full with the crutches. "Unusual, but if it's the doctor's orders, we'll see about getting some."

Jones headed out with his message delivered, leaving Vishnal to ask, "You really need the flowers to get better?"

Lest nodded. "Yes, it's the blessing price. The earth gives her blessings freely, but then we need to give blessings back to the earth to maintain our gifts. And I go stir crazy if I don't have some farm work to do for a few days, probably why I ended up sleeping the whole while."

"Hah, I know the troubling feeling of having too much idle time," Volkanon said. "There's a flower shop in town, so it's no problem. Now, this wing is meant for the royal family, so it is large for a single fellow. But you've got your room down there with a door directly into the royal farms, along with the one here down the hall if you want. Your room is a private area, but this hall and the parlor over here are public places, in that people often pass through here either as a shortcut across town, taking shelter from the elements, or socializing in the parlor. Once you can get around better, there's more private rooms upstairs and downstairs you can use for whatever you wish, as well as an office across from your bedroom. Our offices and apartments are in the other wing and you're free to drop in whenever you like."

Lest followed them around to check out the first floor rooms. The office would be nice for writing letters or whatever business Arthur would be instructing him on later. While the parlor was open to the public, Lest felt happy about that. That would make it easy and natural to invite someone there to speak with them, maybe even moving into the office if it needed to be private. Since he was being pulled in as a community leader, that would be important. His bedroom seemed sparse with just a few necessary pieces of furniture, although that wouldn't be an issue for long.

He insisted on going out to look at the farms, so they headed out through the bedroom door to get there. Just like the plaza, the farm was right next to the castle. There was a shed for tools nearby, holding a few that seemed old but usable. Clusters of large trees divided what Volkanon said were five fields, four of which had been unused by the last prince. From a few dead vines and a withering bush, it seemed only a small portion of this field had been used to farm, something that struck Lest as wasteful the instant he noticed it. Across the field, there was a shipping bin, a fertilizer box, a shallow-walled well, a mostly empty lumber and stone bin, and a small barn in need of serious attention.

"Excuse me for saying so, but if this is a big part, the last prince wasn't very good at his job," Lest said, looking over the ground to read the runes there.

"I must admit that he was unsuited for the job," Volkanon agreed. "Kept complaining it was a job meant to make him easier to ignore and eventually took off without a word. He lasted a few years, longer than I expected."

"He was good to help train a proper attitude," Vishnal said, making his master laugh.

"I suppose that's the best one could say," Clorica said, then covered her mouth and yawned.

Meanwhile, Lest closed his eyes and started to sing softly in a different language. He couldn't kneel at the moment to feel the earth itself. Gold lines briefly appeared on his skin in response to his call; the runes of the ground responded as well, although he would be the only one there to hear them. This way took more energy, but it gave him a lot of information he wanted for when he started to farm. "Not quite awake yet," he said normally, opening his eyes back up. "This field needs to rest for another season as anything grown this spring will be weaker than normal. Probably two seasons of fallow rest so as not to wear it out too fast. But it has a lot of promise."

"Wow, you can tell that much from just a short melody?" Vishnal asked, completely impressed. Clorica had her eyes wide. In contrast, Volkanon was quietly in approval. That was enough proof for him that Lest was a true earthmate.

Lest laughed a little in embarrassment. "Yeah, it's a really basic skill for us, not much different from talking with others. But I think this land will make whatever else I need to do worth it."

Volkanon clapped him lightly on the shoulder; probably would have been harder if he hadn't been in bandages. "Good, I like your attitude already. I have some daily tasks I still need to complete for Lady Ventuswill, so we'll stop the tour here. Vishnal, you go with the prince around town to make sure he can get around and meet folks."

"Certainly," Vishnal said.

"Am I taking his duties for today then?" Clorica asked, starting to slip back into drowsiness again.

"Not quite, I want you on light duty until we're sure you're completely healed," Volkanon said in a stern concern. "Oh yes, and when you stop by the flower shop, tell Illuminata that I'll handle the bill for your flowers this time."

"I've got some money," Lest said.

"Save it for when you can get serious with your farming," Volkanon said. "See you later."

"Thanks for all your help," Lest said, waving to him before Volkanon and Clorica headed off to their part of the castle.

"We'd better head back through the hall so we don't disturb Lady Ventuswill," Vishnal said, securing the door to Lest's bedroom before going to open the other. "The town's not big, so we should be able to get around it by the evening hours. Anywhere besides the flower shop you definitely want to stop in at?"

Lest nodded in thanks to having the door help while he went into the hall. There were a few small tables to navigate around, nothing difficult. "I'd like to meet Kiel if I could, since he lent me some clothes. Also the grocery store, or wherever would sell vegetable seeds and plant nutrients."

"That'd be the general store, with the nutrients in the flower shop," Vishnal said. "Since we will be picking up things from the latter, we can loop around so it's the last stop. If he's at home or his workshop, Kiel won't be far from here, so we'll head there first. And I hope you don't mind, but I think you should check out the inn, restaurant, and marketplace as well. They're places people who live here visit frequently."

"Sounds like a good plan," Lest said.

They headed towards the west side of town, where the clinic was. Vishnal pointed out the street there. "You just came from there, but if you continue on down that road, you'll find Dragon Lake, which is good for fishing and swimming."

"Hopefully not both at once," he joked.

Vishnal smiled at that. "Right, that'd hurt." He glanced into the window of the store where Lest had seen the dwarf earlier, then gestured to the building. "This is the blacksmith's store and home, but it looks like Bado isn't in right now. He makes weapons and armor to sell, as well as sharpening blades when needed. And up ahead here, we have an alchemist shop; that's Kiel's business, along with looking after the town library."

"Keeping those two together sounds dangerous too," Lest commented. Fumes from a potion gone wrong (or even some gone right) might damage the books.

"He went with his passions, so he does take care to keep both sides safe," Vishnal said, pulling a rope on a bell once they got there. "There's a bigger library, but no one lives there now; Kiel rotates the books he keeps in here from the collections in there and the castle."

"Come on in!" a voice called from inside. Once they got in, a young man (Lest figured he had to be eighteen or close to it) came into entrance area of a small shop. Kiel was taller than Lest, but had a more delicate frame of someone who didn't do a lot of physical work like farming. Chemical gloves covered his hands and a pair of safety goggles currently rested on his head. "Morning, Vishnal. Who's this?"

"This is our new prince, Lest," he said. "We're visiting people around town today. Lest, this would be Kiel, our alchemist and librarian."

"Well I haven't been either for very long, but I'm working to make it better all the time," Kiel said cheerfully. "Good to meet you, Lest. I heard about what happened from my sister. That's just about the craziest coincidence I ever heard of!"

Lest smiled and shifted a crutch so he could shake Kiel's hand. "No kidding. And thank you for lending me some of your clothes, although I'm going to have to give them back. It would've helped if I'd lost my bag too."

"That's fine," he said. "Since the airship went up in flames, any of the cargo must have been lost and I wanted to help out however I could. Hah, but now you've gone and become a prince! I can't tell if that makes you the luckiest guy around or the unluckiest."

"Luck can be good or bad, so it has to be both," Vishnal said as a joke.

"I just lost a few of my things, so I can get all that back in time," Lest said. "I still have my family back in my old town and my friends got out alive from the crash too, which is what mattered to me." The rune spheres were lost too, but he could get those back.

"That's true," Kiel said. "Oh, you know what? I've been working on a new potion recipe, one that helps injuries heal better but tastes more soothing than a straight medicinal herb potion. Want to give one a try?"

"He's very good at it, so there shouldn't be any trouble from just trying," Vishnal said.

"Maybe, I'd need to see it first," Lest said.

"Allergies? I can get the ingredient list too. Wait a minute." Kiel headed into the lab area. As Lest had begun to think this was a mostly mundane town in terms of magic wielders, he was a bit surprised to notice that there was an enchanted screen on the doorway between the two rooms. Small devices on the frame made a barrier that would help protect the rest of the shop and keep the lab area clean, but allowed Kiel to walk through unimpeded due to an armlet he wore. He came back with a small bottle of red-violet liquid and a recipe card. "Okay, so this potion has spring water, green grass, medicinal herb, numbing spores, beets, and carrots."

"Why numbing spores?" Vishnal asked.

While he'd been handed the bottle, he realized it was a mistake when Kiel mentioned that particular ingredient. "The effect of the spores can be muted so that it dulls pain rather than causes partial paralysis," Lest said. And that muting could be done either through certain ingredients he had not mentioned or through enchantments.

"Right, I use some rune shift enchantments as part of the brewing process to change the passive effect," Kiel explained, but then the potion in the bottle started hissing and shimmering. "Whoa, sorry! It didn't seem unstable."

The alchemist started to take it back, but Lest tightened his grasp on it. There was a shine on his hand from the chi lines. "Hang on, this shouldn't do anything dangerous," he said. "Sorry about messing it up, I should've warned you that a major part of my power as an earthmate is unraveling enchantments." The hissing slowed, so Lest examined it again. "And that wasn't the only enchantment in this particular brew; seems like other shifts were made to balance the vegetables, herbs, and spores so that it comes out smooth with the taste in favor of the veggies. I can only take potions without enchantments in the process. This is now just some odd-flavored juice that might numb your whole body rather than just pain."

"That sounds like a lot of trouble," Vishnal said, to which Lest nodded.

On the other hand, Kiel was impressed. "Wow, so you're really an earthmate? That's incredible; I never thought I'd get to meet one of you since most live in a distant part of Norad. Do you understand earthmate script?"

"Somewhat," Lest said. "I recognize some words and structures from hymns I've learned, but not much outside that."

"Ah, well I had some books written in that in my collection," Kiel said, glancing at a doorway that led downstairs. "That and a few ruins around Selphia have that kind of writing around, but nobody in town knows how to read it. It's like there was a community of earthmates here at some point."

Lest nodded. "I'd agree, since this position as prince seems very much like what we'd do." Even just going around talking to neighbors and helping them out was evidence of this. They spoke for a few minutes longer, but Kiel wanted to get back to his potion studies (including seeing what happened to the one Lest undid). On leaving, Vishnal brought Lest to a street heading north to visit the inn.

"This is called the residential area, although businesses and residences are spread out evenly in truth," the butler said, indicating the handful of buildings along the road to their left. The architectural styles seemed to be pulled from many ages, but every home had a small garden space. On their right, there was the little canal and the trees that bordered the royal farms.

"A lot of them seem unused," Lest said about the houses.

Vishnal briefly looked sad about that. "They are, unfortunately. Our last prince was not popular with anyone, leading our population to dwindle in the past few years as people left. Those of us who remain have strong ties to this place, so I'm sure they'll be happy to help build up the community again however we can."

"Who handles the matter of buying and selling these places, in case we do get new residents?"

He had to think about that a moment. "I believe it's supposed to be part of your work, although Volkanon handles estate titles, licenses, and similar issues right now. Or maybe it'll fall to Arthur since he is your political and financial adviser."

"We'll just see how things work out," Lest said.

By the time they got to the northmost street, Lest was getting tired. That didn't seem right even if he knew it was because he'd been asleep for three days straight. Vishnal said they could rest inside the Bell Inn, which was right by some stairs that led to the bottom of the cliff. As a building of Oriental influence, it was yet another style added to Selphia's eclectic mix. Twin lion statues guarded the main entrance while wind chimes had charms for good luck and health. A sign on the wall advertised public baths for 300 gold, rooms ranging from 250 to 2900 gold per night, and a service to order meals from the restaurant. Although he hadn't been in many towns, it seemed like reasonable pricing.

A lovely woman with long silver-blond hair greeted them as Vishnal was holding the door open for Lest. "Hello, thanks for coming by!" Then she took another look at him and put a hand to her cheek. "Oh, you were... wait, were you the real prince or the fake one?"

"Doesn't matter now, since Ventuswill named me Selphia's prince officially," he said. "Hello, I'm Lest. Do you mind if we sit in here for a few minutes?"

"Not at all, need some help?" She came from behind the counter and made sure he could sit down comfortably on a couch nearby. "I'm Lin Fa, the owner of the inn. Would you both care to have some lunch while you're here? On the house this time to welcome you to your new home."

"Thanks, that'd be great," he said.

"Porco sent some vegetable stew today," Lin Fa said happily, heading to a door behind the counter. "I'll bring along some tea to go with it."

"This should be good," Vishnal said. "Porcoline owns the restaurant and he's an amazing chef."

For being an inn, there didn't seem to be much business today. It was quiet and a nearby shoe cubby for guests and bathers only held one pair of house shoes. Someone did come downstairs from the staircase by the baths, in a hesitant cautious rhythm. When she appeared, the young woman was carrying two buckets, one stuffed with rags and the other sloshing with soapy water. She had hair of the same color as Lin Fa, but cut in boyish style. "Done with the floors up here, Momma," she called, setting the buckets down near the shoe cubby. She grabbed the shoes and quickly put them on, noticing the two of them as she did. "Oh, he-o Vishnah. Where's my mom, please?"

"She went to get us some stew for lunch," he said.

"Good good, I thought it might be time for foo-" and then she yelped because she fumbled the last of the steps coming to greet them. Lest winced as her face hit the floor.

Vishnal was up in an instant to go help her. "Are you okay, Xiao?"

"Hah, I've found worse tumbles," she said, sitting up on her own and putting a hand to her face. "Ow, but I might need a clean hankie for this."

"If it's not too bad, I could clear it up with a spell," Lest offered.

"Can you, please?" she asked, so Lest waved them to come over because he did better at casting on others if he could touch them.

There was some blood dripping from her nose, but no signs of being broken. Lest put his fingertips on her cheek near the injury to activate the healing spell. Since it wasn't bad, all the spell needed to do was speed up her natural healing process so that the break wasn't open long and neutralize any possible infections. "There you go. Try not to bump it again and it should be just as normal tomorrow."

She smiled. "Good, thank you. It will be nice if we have new guests come in. Oh, and I'm Xiao Pai; I work here with my mom."

"Nice to meet you both," Lest said, nodding. "I'm Lest."

"Oh, then you're the new prince?" she asked. "We had the other one, Arthur I mean, come in a while ago asking about rooms, yes? But we didn't have much of an office to help him with. Did you both really have the nearly same name?"

"Right, we're both Arthur Lest, with our family names differing slightly."

"At least you both use different ones, yes?" Xiao said, intrigued by this. And more, as evidenced when she added, "It was real amazing what Forte told us! Because we thought that you were the prince, only the airship control bluffed about them turning back so the warship would ignore you. It sounds like great book, but then it got even more complicated when you weren't the prince but he was and then you were the one actually named prince, and, um," she faltered in puzzlement. "Real complicated."

"I could tell you more about it when your mother gets back," Lest offered.

That delighted her. "Oh, yes, yes! We'd love that. Oh but first, um, why were you dressed like a girl when you showed up? It's been bothersome question."

How many people had seen him? They'd probably all want to ask him that at some time. Human curiosity, although Kiel's curiosity had been more about the potion and earthmates. "I was trying to fool some bandits and got so busy with talking to my best friends that I forgot about it," he said without hesitation. It wasn't something he was ashamed of, even if he knew people who thought he should be.

"Is everything all right out here?" Lin Fa asked as she brought a serving cart through the door. "I thought I heard a yelp."

"Just me falling down the stairs again, Momma," Xiao said, slightly embarrassed but it seemed like something that happened on a regular basis. "At least I got the mop buckets down before I went down."

"She's fine now," Vishnal said.

"Good, then we can be cheerful company all around," Lin Fa said. And it was true through their whole lunchtime conversation.

* * *

><p><em>AN: At the beginning of the game, Arthur doesn't really explain why he gives away the position so readily. I like to think that part of the reason why is that the situation is already confusing to the newly amnesiac hero/heroine, so s/he doesn't entirely grasp why if Arthur explained so. But for this anti-amnesia story, I have the lack of farming experience reason instead. Which the game counters by favoring Arthur in the Winter Harvest Festival. All well._

_Kiel is a character that I aged up for various reasons. When playing games, I tolerate young characters like him being available to marry knowing that it's more acceptable in other cultures. But when writing, I'd rather have him and others older unless I decide on allowing teen marriage in the setting. A more practical reason is that I wanted a librarian or alchemist around town for future scenes and Kiel works really well for both without altering his personality. On the other hand, Xiao works great for this story without much alteration. She's fun to work with in spite of the language issue I mentioned earlier. Although I like everybody in the game, so it's lots of fun to write this story._


	5. Selphia Town

**Chapter 5: Selphia Town**

Spring 2, year 1611

The mother and daughter innkeepers already seemed like good friends, but they had to get back to their cleaning while Lest and Vishnal wanted to get back to the castle at a reasonable time. Off to the west outside the inn, there was a viewing platform to look at the landscape below. It seemed precarious with the drop on over two sides of town, but Vishnal assured him that they kept watch on the cliff's stability and there hadn't been much trouble with it for decades. Back at the intersection, there was a decorative gate standing high over the path that led down to the airfield to the east and the hilly lowlands to the north. There were some small windmills on the gate, but even from the ground they could see peeling paint on them.

Not far down the northern street, they came upon another plaza right across from the path to the royal farms. This place was built on a large wooden platform with carved rails, but it too could use some loving attention. Lines of wooden booths with cloth shelters were placed neatly here. While it could have been a bustling marketplace, no booths were in use today. A pity, since it would have a nice view over the land below as well.

"As you can see, this is our marketplace for traders and other temporary businesses," Vishnal said. "Any resident of Selphia can apply for a booth on any day, as well as traders registered with the Norad market. Thursdays are currently our only regular market day, as that's when most traders will stop by outside of festivals."

"It's plain," Lest said.

"It's been this way as long as I've known it."

He smiled. "We should have a market cleaning day soon. Get people to come out here and take care of the place, maybe add some more color to the booths. And paint those windmills over that entrance gate and add some flags around; this place seems like it could use some. Does Selphia have its own flag?"

Pleased with that idea, Vishnal nodded. "Yes, it's primarily Ventuswill's symbol, but she's the reason behind our town. That seems like a great plan, we should do that."

"When I can do some work because I'd like to help out with it," Lest said. "It'd give people some time to make new covers and flags here too."

Past the marketplace, there was a mansion nearly as grand as the castle. It had the air of an old noble family, with the decorative iron rails around dainty balconies, the elaborately trimmed windows, the intricate designs on over-sized doors, and more. The entrance plate declared it to be Porcoline's Kitchen rather than a ritzy residence. Further to the east stood the tallest structure in town, a windmill rising above the mansion. It'd be nice to go up there once he was out of the cast.

Inside the restaurant, the building continued to be grand, even including chandelier lighting. It mixed a classy look with a comfort like home to be somewhere one could have a special dinner or an everyday gathering without changing anything. A hall to the east led to several doors, with a sign saying that they included a few private dining rooms available for reservation. The large tables had clean white tablecloths and a mixed array of silverware. In a bin by the service counter, there were patterned plates from many sets for customers to take and hand over to the chef for service. A beautiful black grand piano sat near the service counter, being played by a woman with long cream brown hair. The chef sang along boisterously with mangled lyrics, causing the pianist and Forte nearby to try hard not to laugh.

The chef was quite a match to the restaurant, a large man who wore diamond rings and a gold feathered hat pin along with his bright apron and puffy chef's hat. His fashion sense was ostentatious yet he seemed like he could be one's oddball and friendly uncle. After a flourish of a flipping pocket pie into a small basket, he turned to offer the dish to Forte. "Here you are, my charming knight. And if your brother keeps getting this distracted in his studies, you send him my way for a little chat. Knowledge is good but this borders on obsession."

"I'll give him another two weeks in how long this course should last," Forte said, taking the basket. "Thanks again." On her way out, she nodded to them. "Hello Lest. How are you getting around?'

"It's a bit tough in spots, but I'm managing," he said. "Thanks for asking."

"Oo, is this our new prince?" the pianist said, getting up from the bench and coming over. Her elongated ears and particular outfit made it obvious that she was an elf. "Has to be with Vishnal following along. This should be a good deal better than your last boss because anyone would be better than that loud mouth."

"It's just the first day, but I think things will go well," Vishnal said.

"The last prince doesn't seem popular with anyone," Lest said.

"No kidding," she said as Forte waved and headed out. "All talk and no action. But that's in the past and we've got to be looking forward. Hey Lest, I'm Margaret, and I manage the restaurant for Porcoline over there."

"I don't know what I'd do without you, gorgeous," Porcoline said, turning back to whatever dish he was working on. "But you really should make your introductions sexier. Like," he turned his voice deeper in a way that was almost but not exactly sexy, "I am Porcoline Tulle de Sainte Coquille, and this is my magnificent manager and musician Margaret."

After a laugh, Margaret put a hand to her mouth and said a bit quieter, "He might seem annoying, but he's a great guy. Just don't tell him I said it."

"All right," Lest said quietly. "Then is this the only restaurant in town? Seems like it."

She nodded. "Right. See, this is a historical town with all the ancient buildings around, so even cooking is accounted for in trying to preserve it. Simple recipes are fine, but anything that would use an oven, stovetop, or specialized equipment requires a license. Most people don't bother, but we've got the town covered. Porco will cook some things on request, but mostly the daily menu is up to him and what's in the pantry. If you ever get busy and want a hot meal without disrupting your work, just send a note and we'll get it delivered."

"Or one of us will bring it back for you," Vishnal added.

"Sounds like a good deal," Lest said. "I usually like to cook for myself, with what I can grow."

That got Porcoline distracted from his cooking. "Ooo, we've actually got a farmer and chef in the prince this time around? Marvelous! You'll have to share some of your cooking with me once you get a license. And if we could get fine fresh produce and herbs right down the street, I'd be happy to cook for you free anytime."

Margaret looked briefly annoyed, but then reconsidered it. "Well... in that case, I think that's a fine deal. You mind?"

"Not at all, I'd be happy to share," Lest said. "I usually end up growing way more than I can eat myself, so it's no trouble.'

"Woohoo, I'll be looking forward to it!" Porcoline cheered, twirling a pair of tongs in his hand. "Have you had lunch yet?"

"Yes actually, we ate with Lin Fa and Xiao," he said.

"Oh, well then I'll see about sending you some dinner at the castle. I'll whip up something good and hearty, since you could use the energy to heal up faster."

All these people wanting to cook for him was surprising, but he understood wanting to gift food to a newcomer. It was a good welcome, a promise of a friendly town. "Thank you, I'm hoping to get better quick myself."

"Think positive," Margaret suggested.

"Oh, did Arthur come by here?" Lest asked, curious if he'd found a place yet.

"The other prince? Yeah, he's moving in upstairs." She gestured to a door heading east. "Porco has a big business office over there that he never uses, and it's too big for my work."

"And too far from the piano," Porcoline piped in.

She smiled happily. "Yeah, that too. So we're letting him stay in an extra suite upstairs and use the office for his work. Good to know that everything worked out in spite of the crazy mix-up, huh?"

Lest nodded. "Yes, this seems to be working out better than either of us expected."

Not long after, they said goodbye to Margaret and Porcoline to head on south. Due to the shape of the cliff, there weren't as many buildings over here. A few were built out on platforms that had trees growing under them. Another flagless gate stood to the east at a path to the airfield down below so travelers had options of where to arrive. On more solid ground, they found the general store right next to the main plaza. Rosebushes sat near the building, filled with many new leaves. A chalkboard outside listed some daily specials, today being a sale on fresh orange bread, spices, tins, and ink.

The inside gave Lest a nostalgic feeling for the general store in Grelin. It was much like this: barrels of basic ingredients like flour, oats, and rice, a table up front for local baked goods (including the orange bread), rows of shelves filled with various goods, a large icebox in back, and even the lace doilies and bowls of dried potpourri for atmosphere. An elderly woman in a simple old-fashioned dress sat in a rocking chair by the register, sewing a baby's gown by hand. In the back of the store, a red-haired dwarf paused in his work to see them coming in.

Elves were easy to identify once their ears were visible. On the other hand, dwarves could be tricky to tell apart from humans. Traditional dwarves were easy, since they would only come aboveground if they had no other option and had coarse thick beards. But in a town like this, one was more likely to run across a non-traditional dwarf who might not have a problem shaving or adapting to new communities. Then one had to pick out less obvious traits, such as a short stocky stature (not always true as mixed marriages were common), unusually large hands often with hair (but some would shave that too), certain vocal traits, and a penchant for crafting and forging (but not always). This dwarf had the right body shape, but it was more his runes that told Lest that he was a dwarf instead of a short human. He was unusually unscarred for a dwarf, not a callous or old wound to be seen even as he wore a short-sleeved shirt.

"Hello, you must be one of the two Arthurs we've been hearing about," the old woman said pleasantly, placing her needle securely in a piece of felt before setting her project aside. "Don't feel the need to carry purchases while you're on crutches. I don't mind getting up to help you out."

"Thanks," he said with a nod, although he knew the butlers would help him when he went out like this. "I'm Lest, the new prince."

"Well it's a delight for you to drop in on my humble store," she said, coming over to meet with them. "I'm Blossom, but feel free to call me Granny if you'd like. I'm not ashamed of my age."

"That's a good attitude to take, Granny," Lest said, agreeing with it and figured she'd like it.

Her eyes twinkled as she smiled. "Yes, I think you'll do nicely around here. Oh, and my assistant back there is Doug. He's a shy boy, but he's very kind."

"Aw, knock it off Granny," Doug said, turning back to his work. But there was some affection to his words, so Lest was pretty sure he cared about Blossom.

She laughed at it. "He's new to the area too. It's nice to see more people coming into Selphia. While I may not have much to offer, I'll help out however I can to make this place strong again."

"I hope I can do that for all of you," Lest said. "I'm fine for things at the moment, but I'll definitely be back to buy some seeds."

"I can show you a sample of what I have right now, although there's not much for variety with the lack of traders," she offered.

"As much as I'd like to see them, I'd better not," he said, reluctant. A piece of himself was fretting about the denial. "I'm already feeling antsy from not having farmed in a week and yet I can't take care of anything that requires a lot of work."

Blossom's eyes widened in recognition. "Oh? Are you an earthmate then?"

"Yes, I am."

That sparked a strong hope in her. "Wonderful! I'm so grateful that you came at the right time then. I've been telling the Norad politicians that we need to get an earthmate in here for years. Even if there hasn't been one here in Selphia since I was a child, one of your tribe makes the best sense as our leader with the traditions we have."

"I've been thinking that myself the more I learn of what I fell into," Lest said with a smile. "Also, I've been wondering is if any town traditions like that which have been neglected, ones that you remember and would like to see come back."

"I'd have to think over that, but I know there's some," she said, closing her eyes to recall things. "Maybe later when I've considered it, we can talk. The last prince did cancel festivals often, such a shame. Like the firefly festival in summer; I have many fond memories of that one with my husband, bless his soul." Then she looked back at him. "Oh, and it was before that, but there hasn't been a wassail since I was a young woman, not far from where you must be at. I remember it being fun even if you had to endure the cold for it."

That bothered him. "No wassail? Wow, canceling one would be considered heresy where I came from. We even held one right as an ice storm hit because there wouldn't be a decent day for it otherwise. Well even if we can't convince the others to celebrate it, I'll definitely be honoring it come next winter."

"What's a wassail?" Vishnal asked.

"In the last weeks of winter, the whole community comes out into the fields for what's basically a loud party at night," Lest said. "The earth and most plants upon it rest during winter and the wassail is to reawaken its spirit to prepare for spring, as well as disturb any bad spirits that may have settled in during the harsh season. During this last one, my father was telling me how it can seem overly superstitious to those who don't farm. But for a people like us, it's seen as vital to making the next year's harvests successful."

"A loud party out in the cold winter night does sound crazy," Doug said. "But hey, a party's a party, so it could be fun."

"There'll be a big bonfire so it's not that bad," Blossom said. "It's something to look forward to, even if my age might not keep me at it long."

"Yes, and do let me know if you remember anything else I should look into," Lest said. "I saw your sign outside had orange bread on it. Is it the kind with the zest and juice in the dough?"

Glad that he noticed, she went over to the baked goods table to find one. "Certainly, and in the glaze on top. I had some extra oranges that needed using, so I baked plenty of them just yesterday and this morning. It's normally fifteen gold, but is only ten today."

In part because it seemed rude to drop by for the first time without buying something, and because it sounded good, Lest asked, "May I get a loaf of it then? It sounds like a good snack."

"Yes, thank you," she said. Lest had to let Vishnal hang onto one of his crutches while he got his coin purse out of his pocket to pay for it.

Just across the street from the general store, they found the flower shop. It had one of the larger gardens in town, along with a greenhouse to grow flowers out of season. Walking by the field to get to the store entrance, Lest could sense that these flowers were well taken care of. Feeling the runes of healthy plants of any sort on a sunny day was like hearing them sing, and these ones were singing with great delight. Some violets and clovers grew in a pot on the door too, happy as can be.

The shop was filled with dozens of baskets full of flowers. Many of the baskets held sealing spells on them; this was used with both flowers and foods to give them a much longer and safer shelf life. With the sealing, the shop was able to stock flowers of all seasons all year round. Only one person was there, an elf with long braids of deep red hair. She wore an outfit that was peculiar for elves, or anybody, to wear. It looked like illustrations for a famed detective series: a brown patterned beret, a monocle, a long brown overcoat, even tall boots to fit the part. While one might see something like it during a costumed event, it wasn't every day wear in most places as far as Lest knew.

"Welcome to my shop," she said, grinning at them. "And it's one of the butlers and our first Arthur."

"Call me Lest, please," he said. Hopefully he wouldn't have to give that correction much longer.

She nodded. "All right. Hang on a bit, I've been thinking about this whole ordeal and my conclusion is... you're a spy from the Sechs Empire meant to prepare our region for invasion!"

While it was quite an accusation, she didn't seem angry for it. She was instead pleased as if solving a particularly hard puzzle in a book before the answer was revealed. With that in mind, Lest brushed it out of his mind. "Not likely, since I came in from the northeast."

She put her hand to her chin. "Hmm, but you could have circled around to avoid coming from Sechs border."

"And their warship wrecked the airship of some good friends of mine," he added.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, genuine this time. "Okay, then it must be something else. Hang on, I can figure this out." She walked over to the large table that seemed to make up her sales counter.

Since she didn't seem inclined to introduce herself, Vishnal did so for her. "Well, this is our florist, Illuminata."

"And great detective!" Illuminata added, pounding the table.

"That too," Vishnal said politely. "And Lest is going to be our prince, so I would hope he's not a spy."

"Can you cast magic?" Illuminata asked, ignoring the last statement and pointing at him.

"Yes," Lest said. To demonstrate, he picked out a rose on the table that hadn't been sealed yet and cast the preservation seal over it. Between airship deliveries and preservation spells, cooking ready-made meals for others was a solid way to make some income on the side when farming. Constant use made this spell one he had an easier time casting.

She picked it up to examine the spellwork. "Nice," she said. "You'd make a good shop assistant if you weren't the prince now. But I can figure out what you're really here for."

"Besides introducing myself to people?" he asked. "There is a reason, as Jones ordered me to..."

"I can figure it out!" Illuminata insisted. "But nice clue you dropped there. It's the doctor's orders, so it shouldn't be hard. You got a broken leg and your ribs need healing too, then your runes visibly manifest on your skin in gold linear patterns... got it! You're a univir who's lost his alicorn in a terrible accident and you're here to pick up some flowers and leaves for a medicinal tea to help stimulate the grown of a new alicorn!"

"What's a univir?" Lest asked, puzzled how she came up with that.

Vishnal happened to know. "They're a rare race of elves who live even longer than most and are identified by a horn similar to a unicorn's growing from their foreheads. Although, if he was a univir, wouldn't there be a more visible scar from a missing alicorn?"

"They're like really distant cousins rather than full elves," Illuminata said, darting next to Lest. She pulled his long bangs aside just in case his hair was hiding scars. "Ah drat, there goes that theory. I was pretty sure with the chi lines... no, no, wait... you're an earthmate with your blessing price tied to flowers and since you've been out asleep for days, you really need to get back to growing them or else you'll lose power and get really depressed."

"Almost there," Lest said. "My price is tied to farming and while I can't handle regular work, growing some flowers is the next best thing."

"Farming still counts flowers, so that's another successful case solved," she declared, pleased with herself. She headed over to a large seed cabinet, so Lest followed her. "I end up selling more flowers than seeds, so I've got quite a stock left from years of collecting. They're all still plenty viable, as I check on them weekly. As for a pot and soil, we can get you some from the greenhouse unless you've got some hanging around the castle..." she paused, then brightened. "Oh, oh, farming does count flowers for you, right?"

"Right," Lest said, wondering where this was going.

Wherever it was, Illuminata was excited, bounding over to the work table and skimming through a book. She didn't find whatever she wanted immediately and slammed it shut. "I've got something that's been a real mystery even for me. You've got to come... oh, no wait, in that cast you're not gonna be able to follow me into the basements. But you have to see it! Go ahead and look through the cabinet, they're in seasonal order followed by alphabetical. I'll be back in a few!" She then raced to a door below the stairs going up and headed into the shop basement.

Or basements, apparently. "She's quite a character," he said, looking over the panels to find the spring seeds.

Vishnal nodded. "Yes, she has these passing obsessions where she really gets into character. This is a recent one; last time it was a doctor." He made a sheepish laugh. "That wasn't too good. One time she tried to help me and ended up making things worse."

"She seems all right, though," Lest said, opening a slot where 'c' should be.

"Yes, as long as you tolerate whatever she loves at the moment," Vishnal agreed.

As he'd hoped, there were clover seeds in there. It was a really useful plant that could be grown in resting fields and then tilled into the soil to make it stronger. Plus there were many other uses, from feeding farm monsters to crafting items. Kiel would even make use of clovers in his alchemy. Still, that would be more helpful when he could fully farm, not so much in a pot. Moving back towards the front, he considered some cherry grass as it would be a cheery plant to keep inside.

Illuminata came rushing back upstairs, her pounding feet making the return obvious. She carried an old wicker basket, its lid coated in a fine gray dust and several parts of its weave fraying in spite of many repairs. Flipping the lid over caused the dust to fly, making her sneeze. "I'm fine, just this has been in this building for a long time, well before I moved in to take over the shop. But it has something that could be absolutely priceless, take a look."

Gingerly taking the item out, she placed a dried bundle of roots and branches on the work table. Was it in deep slumber or dead? Lest came over and, when she didn't stop him, leaned on the table so he could pick the old plant up. "This is... a rosebush. Its runes are really quiet, but they're there."

"There's some documents in here that claim it's a Rose of Ventuswill," Illuminata said. "It's a breed I've never even heard of before I came to Selphia, but apparently there were a number of specimens in the area around four hundred years ago. According to illustrations I found, it's got a really pretty pale green tone and feathered edges on the petals. And there's two more baskets just like this with the same bushes, a few in each."

"That'd be nice," Lest said. "Have you tried growing one?"

"On a few occasions." She shook her head. "A few I could tell were dead right off, but I tried growing the stronger specimens. All of them failed, even when I used special elven techniques for growing our rare roses. I keep thinking of trying again, but every time, I decided to see if I can make contact with a flower-bound earthmate to see what they think. As I hear it, they can grow lots of difficult varieties. But I never could find one, even when I left Selphia for a couple of weeks on the singular purpose of getting opinions on this rose."

"I've taken care of a few roses, but nothing considered a difficult one," he admitted. "I suppose if its runes could be stimulated, it could stand a chance. There's one flower-bound earthmate in my old town of Grelin I could see about getting advice from." Although it was someone he didn't get along with well. Frey might be able to ask for him, or his farming mentor if she'd already gone.

"Then get to it!" Illuminata insisted. "Get that person here, if you can. I really want to see what this looks like in full bloom, right here in town. Heck, if it turns out to be what it claims to be, I'd be more than happy to grow them somewhere public in her honor."

"I'll see what I can do. Are your bulbs in the cabinet too? I'd like some of this cherry grass and I think it'd be nice if I placed a daffodil or tulip bulb in the center."

"Sounds like a nice cluster," she said, going to cabinet to help him find them.

"It'll be placed on Volkanon's business account since it's to help the prince get better," Vishnal added in before they could get too far in the deal.

"Roger! Oh, and I've got the nutrient spray he's requested, so would you take that over too?" At the end of it, Vishnal had a large bag to carry with the flowerpot, soil, seed packet, bulb, various nutrients, and the bread from Blossom's store. But only the first two items had much weight to them, so Lest didn't feel too bad about leaving someone else to pack his things around.

That was all the places they wanted to visit, so the pair headed back to the castle into the royal quarters. The hallway seemed the best place to work. Taking a flower vase to another table, they set the flowerpot down to fill with soil. Lest was able to run this through his hands, getting a feel for its runes and making sure it was well-balanced for the two kinds of flowers. He wanted to set the bulb and seeds in himself, but Vishnal was hanging over him watching for a moment to help.

"Would you get a water can from outside?" Lest finally asked.

"Sure thing," he said, heading out.

"This is so weird," he said to himself now that he was on his own. He served the earth and knew he'd be serving Ventuswill while here. To have a butler waiting to serve him as a new boss, it didn't seem right. But that was the job of Vishnal and the others. That made him think that perhaps accepting their assistance was more respectful than trying to do everything on his own. It'd just be a hard thing to get used to doing.

Lest set the daffodil bulb into the soil, observing the runes of the former to see how to arrange the latter around it. The cherry grass had tiny orange seeds that he spread evenly in a ring around the bulb. While he did so, he sang to connect his runes to the plants and stir their runes into awakening with the promise of a warm sunny spot and good care. They murmured like sleepers until Vishnal got back with the water in an old tin waterpot. It was a simple looking tool, built for its function and nothing else. Yet aesthetics had their place too in such things. A nice looking tool would make the farmer feel a little better when using it, making the plants feel better when taken care of. Once he watered them and sang the rest of the song for them, they felt more awake and ready to sprout.

Due to the south-facing windows, he had Vishnal place it in the office for him. He wasn't sure when Arthur wanted to hold their lesson, but it seemed like a good idea to study in the office until he came by. The bookshelves happened to have the same book he'd been reading in the clinic, so he took that to the desk to read. "Don't think there'll be a bread knife in here," he said. "Would you please take the bread to the kitchen or wherever you'd store it and bring back a slice to me?"

"Certainly, I'll go handle that right away," Vishnal said. "Do you want something to drink with it? We have several varieties of coffee, tea, and juice, with some milk and water too.'

"Coffee would be good, thank you," Lest said. Not sure of how food was shared around here, he added, "Oh, and I doubt I'll be able to finish the whole loaf myself, so you and the others are free to snack on it too."

"Thanks, I'm sure the others will be happy too," he said. But instead of heading directly out, he took a seemingly dull set of books on a bookshelf and pulled them out to reveal a hidden locked box inside. "While I'm thinking of it, we usually wouldn't give this until after the official ceremony, but you might need this while you can't get around quickly. It's a bracelet that has a servant call enchantment so you can call us over when you need it."

"Good, since I'm not sure I could call all the way over to your side," he said.

Vishnal nodded, locking the fake book back up and setting it in place. Then he brought over a gold bracelet with symbolic carvings and a few hidden functions. The servant call was under a coiled vine, holding twenty buttons. "Much of this isn't used right now with only three of us, but first you press the black button here, then one of the numbered buttons to reach us. One is for Volkanon, two is for Clorica, and three will be bring me over. The green button will send out the summons, so if you don't care who shows up, press it right after the black one to reach whichever of us is on active duty. There's some other functions and you could even call Forte over as the dragon knight, but we'll go over that after the ceremony."

"All right, and this has other things I would be using officially?" Lest asked, closing the vine panel and opening up one under a rose. It held a dark green ink pad.

"Yes, like this is for use with the seal ring that you'll receive to stamp documents as the prince of Selphia. It just got replaced but you'll need to ask Volkanon to do so when it wears out as it needs a particular kind of ink. Anything else for now?"

"No, I'll just be waiting on Arthur unless Ventuswill wishes to speak with me," he said. "Thanks again for your help today. I think I'd like it here even if I didn't end up in this position."

"You're welcome," Vishnal said, taking the orange bread loaf as he left. He came back a few minutes later with a slice on a piece of bread, the coffee, a very small dish for butter with a small butter knife, a sugar and cream bowl since he hadn't asked about how to make the coffee, a spoon, and a cloth napkin.

Lest had already finished the section about Leon Karnak and the tower named for him when his snack arrived, so he paused to eat and consider when Vishnal left him alone. He had read about this priest in a few books before coming. Knowing the divine dragon since she was relatively young, Leon was said to have been close to Ventuswill for most of his life. The town of Selphia hadn't existed then, only a shrine on this very cliff where the two of them and his parents resided. He had traveled with her to help people all over Norad. Of course, Norad hadn't existed like it did now either. There were several stories about them out there, things they had done told through many generations.

But for the end of Leon's life, there wasn't a lot even though various sources noted that he hadn't lived long. Ventuswill had grown ill and after a long month of trying to heal her, Leon sacrificed his own life at the foot of the tower named for him in hopes of healing her. It had worked at the time, but she was stricken with grief that he'd gone so far for her. However, this book and one back in Grelin gave some more details. An earthmate sage named Darryl had invented a spell that fused Leon with the earth rune spring in the area. This allowed Leon to take on a portion of Ventuswill's duty in maintaining the rune flow of the ether sea. In this sacrifice using etherlink, he became a guardian spirit to the divine dragon and Darryl was given more time to find a better solution to Ventuswill's illness.

The stories usually ended with the end of Leon's life and the books moved on to other stories, such as tales of Ventuswill's three other guardian spirits. Yet the other guardians were also humans who had etherlink cast on them to fulfill the same purpose, long after Darryl would have died. On turning a page after Leon's part, there was a full page photograph before the stories of the second guardian. He could place this picture after his walk around town, as it was on the side of the tall windmill by the Sainte Coquille Manor. It was an inscription about the guardians.

'For the blessed saints of our town. In deep gratitude, we remember you.'

'Leon Karnak, Dragon Priest to Ventuswill, 362-386'

'Amber Yokmir, child of the forest, 574-592'

'Dolce Amaretto, Dragon Priestess to Ventuswill, 876-895'

'Dylas Leland, a beloved son, 1211-1230'

Lest's mission was to use the rune spheres to replace the guardian spirits as humans were not really meant to do a goddess' job like this. But what would happen to those guardians when he did? And how human would they remain after performing their divine tasks for centuries? Also, was the problem with Ventuswill really being solved here? If he followed the pattern of around 200 to 300 years between them, another guardian should have come around since Dylas, sometime in the past century. Was there a fifth guardian around? There were only four rune springs in Selphia that he'd been told of. What did Ventuswill really need when four etherlink guardians were not enough to keep her from weakening over time?

He quickly knew that he wasn't going to find those answers or even a hint in this book, just the same stories he'd read elsewhere. It might be best to go to the rune springs himself even if he couldn't track down the rune spheres immediately. Although, he couldn't even do that yet. Sighing about how his entrance was delaying things rather than speeding them up, Lest continued on through the book for information other than the guardians.

* * *

><p><em>AN: I've updated the previous chapters with a minor but rather important change, bumping the year from 780-781 to 1610-1611. This comes in part because I noticed that there is a year given on the in-game calendar item. According to it, the game starts in the year 1612. But I was already using the last digit of the year as a shorthand reminder of what year the story is currently in. Yes, even if this part is going slow, this will eventually span years. Adjusting the year number was a help with that inscription right there, since Leon and Amber are no longer in BC range and thus need no further details on calendars._

_Speaking of the guardians, I believe I have them in a different order than canon. But I have my reasons. Since Lest doesn't have amnesia, he does know about them. I also thought that they would have a greater significance to the local culture than is shown in the game._

_Mention of the wassail is a part of my interpretation of the earthmates having a lot of basis in pagan traditions and farming superstitions. If there's enough interest, I might have some more explanations on them as they come, either in story or in author notes. There may be times when my own interest is enough, haha, but I'll try to restrict that to stuff that is truly plot relevant. I'm not an expert on such subjects, but I have read a lot about them._


	6. The Coronation

**Chapter 6: The Coronation**

Spring 2, Year 1611

After delivering Lest's snack, Vishnal headed back through Ventuswill's room. His shoes could make an audible footfall or not depending on if he put weight on the heel. It was actually a clever trick, allowing him to walk quietly around his master or to let himself be heard approaching without a word depending on what was needed. Normally he kept off the heel in here as Ventuswill slept in short bursts. But as he entered quietly, she stirred and opened her eyes.

There might be a prince now, but ultimately Ventuswill was their master more than any prince. Vishnal stopped in his tracks and bowed to her. "Good afternoon," he said softly. "Do you need anything? The prince is in his office if you want me to get him."

"Not right now," she said. "I still need to think over things. How are preparations for the coronation coming?'

"I've just come in from guiding him around town, so I haven't been involved in that yet," he said. "Sorry."

"It's fine." She closed her eyes for half a minute, but hadn't yet dismissed him. While he did want to check in with Volkanon on that and see if he needed to help them, it was more important to make sure Ventuswill didn't have a task for him. Vishnal stayed still while she thought. "There's been something troubling you lately. What is it?"

He tensed at her question. She'd noticed that? "I-it's nothing big, you don't need to worry about it," he said. Although he was very worried about it himself, it really wouldn't be a big deal to others.

"The amount of worry it causes you is big," she said. "And if I don't know what it is, it'll worry me too. What is it? I won't make fun of you."

Her making fun of him was the least of his worries (he wouldn't even consider it if she hadn't said so). Swallowing nervously, Vishnal said, "Well, I really need to get my cooking license in order to continue my training. Thing is, I'm not good at it and I've already failed this test five times. I keep getting told to calm down and practice, but I can only practice so much without a license. It's not something I can really skip either, since I'll need to cook and serve a meal for certification later. Service is not a problem, but the cooking is. Not only that, but my brothers keep asking me to come back home to help the family and I'm afraid that if I fail this again, Volkanon will ask me to do that instead of continuing. I want to be doing this, but I fail so much in the kitchen that it sometimes seems like I'm bound to fail my training in the end."

"You're not normally this pessimistic," Ventuswill said.

More like he usually didn't show people his pessimistic side. Too much negativity generally made others dislike someone and he'd long acted positive so that others would like him better. "I try not to be," he said. "But cooking is a lot harder than it looks. It doesn't help that Clorica can cook perfectly in her sleep. Actually, I think she can cook better asleep than awake."

"It must have been hard for her at some point too," Ventuswill said, leaning her head down closer. "Your heart's in the right place; just keep trying and you'll get better."

Now Ventuswill was expecting him to get better too? Trying not to break out in a sweat with anxiety, Vishnal bowed his head. "Thank you, I hope I will. And I apologize for complaining like this; I shouldn't really be troubling you with something that only matters to me."

"It's no trouble," she said. "Go on with your duties. I still need to think."

"Call us when you need us," he said, then bowed and headed out. Once he was out of sight of the room, he let himself shudder briefly. That cooking license exam... it shouldn't be hard. If it was just the information, he was sure he could pass it. Information was easy. But the license required a demonstration under the eyes of the examiner and that's always where he messed up. One little thing would go wrong and then everything else would turn bad while he was trying to fix the first mistake. He should stay calm and follow the recipe, but that was always easier said than done.

In the main hall of the servants' half, he noticed Clorica in Volkanon's office due to the door being open. They'd shut it if it was a private talk, so Vishnal went to the doorway and lightly rapped on the door. "We got back in a few minutes ago. Lest's in his office; I went ahead and gave him the bracelet because of his injury. I hope that's okay."

"That's fine, I'd rather he have an easy way to reach us while he's in that cast," Volkanon said. "Come on in, we were about to have a discussion over a tea break."

That sounded good. While he kept the coffee around, Volkanon's preference and knack was for tea. "Actually, Lest bought some orange bread from Granny Blossom and said we could share it. Would you like me to get a few slices of that?"

"Splendid! Yes, bring that."

He had to pick up a tray to bring in the snack plates, the three slices arranged around a butter dish, and the spreading knife put in the right spot. Even if the discussion seemed casual, he knew better now to treat it as part of the job. It might be his teacher springing a test on him, although he had passed the plating and silverware drills weeks ago. Anything could become a test, even how he made his own bed and arranged his own room.

The snack service didn't get an obvious acknowledgment as Vishnal sat down with the other two around Volkanon's desk. That was fine, since there was nothing to criticize this time. "You were saying that he bought this on his own?" the master butler asked as he buttered his slice of orange bread.

Nodding, he said, "Yes, we visited various places like the general store and the inn to speak to people for the most part. It was on special, so he asked about it."

"Good, glad to hear that he's already trying to make good bonds with people," Volkanon said, passing the spreading knife to him. "Although knowing that he is a true earthmate, that's not much of a surprise."

"You were saying earlier that you needed to check about them?" Clorica asked. "What was that about?"

"Ah yes, it was something I had to learn quickly myself once," he said, his eyes drifting in reminiscence. "While I was still a student, we had an earthmate arrive as a guest of our master and my teacher pulled me aside the night before to instruct me on some particulars to keep in mind. But I haven't run into another earthmate as a guest again since, much less as a new master alongside Lady Ventuswill."

"Is there anything in particular we need to keep in mind for him then?" Vishnal asked.

He nodded. "A few things. First and foremost, they have a deep spiritual relationship to the world and as such, they have a number of beliefs unique to their tribe. One of which is that they see themselves as owing service to the world for their gifts. Thus, they generally don't like to be served by others and can be uncomfortable with it at first. The guest I helped nearly always said, 'In honor of thy work,' to me before asking me to do something, even simple things such as take care of his laundry. When I finally asked him about it, he said that it didn't feel right to have someone else handle his daily chores. But in honor of my choice to be a butler, he was agreeing to be helped. I believe that Lest may be only accepting our help now because he's limited in what he can do. We'll have to see how he is; it may take performing our tasks discretely until he fully accepts our support."

That made sense to Vishnal, having helped Lest for a few hours. "I could see that in him with how the day went," he said. Between his brief moments of embarrassment at needing doors opened for him and insisting on handling money on his own in the grocery store, Lest didn't like being in a state where he needed help. Still, Vishnal had to be careful in what to say even to his coworkers. It was part of their honor to respect the privacy and feelings of their master. A former master was an entirely different matter, especially one as poorly mannered as the last prince.

Volkanon sat back in his chair. "Another thing to keep in mind is that they are completely serious and passionate when it comes to their blessing price. It's good that he told us freely that he's bound to farming. That's going to be an unmentioned rule around here for dealing with Lest: he might reluctantly accept our help elsewhere, but do not interfere or try to help on his farming unless he specifically asks for it. As they pour their hearts into their work, they can take great offense to someone else altering it."

"But he's only supposed to be working with that potted plant," Clorica said, rubbing one of her eyes and clearly trying not to yawn here. "If they get so passionate about it, is that going to be enough?"

"We'll just have to see," Volkanon said. "Perhaps adjusting to his new position as prince will take enough of his attention to pass this time."

Hearing that reminded Vishnal of something. "Oh, Lady Ventuswill asked about progress on the coronation preparations when I passed by her. She seemed rather preoccupied with her thoughts too."

"I've got most of what we need together," Volkanon said. "We'll need to see about making sure the ceremonial coat fits and won't interfere with the crutches before the afternoon ends, then set up everything after an early dinner. And somebody needs to spread the message around town that the ceremony will be this evening."

"I can handle dinner," Clorica said, rubbing her right arm.

"Are you sure you have full use of your hand like that?" Volkanon asked.

"I... well I can't be sure," she admitted.

"I'll take care of it, you go pass word about the time of the ceremony," he said. "Also, we were going to talk about what happened with you last week, if you're okay with Vishnal being here."

"Sure, that's fine," Clorica said, making Vishnal smile. He had been wondering all the while what had happened to her, so it was good to hear directly from her. "Well, I checked on the bridge to Maya Road as you asked. It was fine, but other things in the area weren't right. Like, I found out where the last prince vanished. We knew he abandoned the job as he left the royal artifacts behind, but he was dead out on Maya Road."

"Was he killed?" Vishnal asked, shocked to hear this. Even if nobody liked the guy, it made him feel uneasy to hear that someone he'd known was dead not long after he'd last seen them.

To make matters worse, Clorica nodded seriously. "He was shot too, but whoever it was meant to kill him. And it had been some time ago from when I saw him, as scavengers had already gotten to him. I recognized him mostly on a piece of that jacket he always wore with his family crest on it. Actually, I brought that piece back with me as proof; it's back in my bag still."

"This is serious, but it's not going to be easy to get answers about," Volkanon said, his own mood turning grave. "And how did you end up injured?"

She took a moment to gather her thoughts. "Well I was going to head straight back once I found the body, but there was something I had noticed before: a new concrete wall with a spiked top just south of that path from the bridge to Maya Road. That's how I ended up finding him, as I was trying to get a good look around the structure; it's enormous, like the size of the town walls. There were some voices and other noises past the wall but no way to see past it. Then as I was headed back to the bridge, someone finally appeared on top of the wall past the spikes. He yelled at me to stay away from the property of the Sechs Empire, which made me wonder since I know most of Maya Road is on our lands. I was going to ask him what he meant, but then he fired at me and I had to run away. And he hit me once. I thought I'd taken good care of it, although a lot of my trip back is a confused fog to me right now."

"Well your wound did get infected, so you were probably delirious for a while," Vishnal said. She did describe it differently than the times when she ended up asleep most of the day.

"Maybe, but I just knew I had to get back here as otherwise you two would be worried about me for too long," Clorica said.

"Perhaps some angel watched out for you on the way until your armband could get a signal to us," Volkanon said, getting teary eyed. He blew his nose on a handkerchief, then said, "It is really great that you've gotten back home. Although, very troubling to hear that Sechs seems to be building on our lands. We should inform Lest and Arthur of this later today.'"

* * *

><p>Watching the coronation in the main plaza from the large ground entrance, Ventuswill felt some sadness looking over the small crowd. Princes and princesses alike weren't staying long in Selphia anymore while the coronations got less and less crowded. There were hardly enough people out there to make the plaza feel alive in spite of what should be a big and memorable event. If this kept going, things might end up as they had centuries ago when she'd been young, with just her and one or two humans who felt inclined to serve her.<p>

That would be safe, she thought. She'd be more like the other divine dragons then, distant from mortals in manner and location. At the same time, the thought made her heart ache. Mortals were entertaining and endearing. Having a thriving town of them around her was like being wrapped in a security blanket, watching an endless drama of life play out before her eyes. It was all small struggles that could be solved easily with some rational thought and action. Yet, it was a source of fascination to watch them try to distinguish the rational from the irrational, often going with irrational ideas rather than not. When things still worked out, maybe even better than she thought with her rational ideas, it was a true joy sharing their joy.

But even these strings of joy and drama would eventually end and that person would be gone from the world. Perhaps reborn, but not the exact same person. And she would continue on, watching new generations while feeling the pangs of losing the old. Like these coronations she watched, knowing that the new prince might quit or die or something else after a while. Then she'd end up watching another one. As much as she knew the rational thing was to simply not care about it anymore, Ventuswill had irrational thoughts from time to time too. She watched out of interest, seeing this new story start and searching out hints of what went on in others that were on-going.

A good portion of the witnesses standing around the plaza had some thoughts like herself, that this event had happened unnervingly often in the past few years. But there was something quite different from the last coronation here. There was a strong stirring of hope that things might work out this time. After all, this was the first day Lest had been able to get around Selphia and he spent much of it getting to know the people here. He'd already asked for their thoughts and concerns, shown his interest in learning more about them and this place, and offered his assistance in what ways he could. That was enough to make him seem promising to others even though he had to remain seated for the ceremony so his hands could be free to go along with it. Then again, the injuries he had were evidence of how far he might be willing to go for the town. He'd already jumped off an airship being pursued by hostile forces all for the sake of getting in quickly to help Ventuswill. Perhaps nothing as dramatic would come up again, but someone who did that would surely work hard to rebuild their community.

He had done that for her without even meeting her. But she couldn't go thinking it was because of her personally. As had happened plenty of times in the past, it was because of her as the divine wind dragon. Mortals could do lots of crazy things in the name of gods they believed in, even without meeting or speaking to the god in person. When she ran across someone with such zeal for herself, Ventuswill would try to guide the person to use their energy and passion to help other mortals. They needed the help more than her. The better princes and princesses were like that, so it may end up she used Lest in the same fashion too.

Yet there was a nagging doubt in the soundness of this idea, something that she might end up regretting greatly in the future. Lest was an earthmate and quite a powerful one at that. She had hoped to never run into one of them again, not after certain events that always happened around them. They certainly meant well, but they had a way of sticking their noses into business that probably shouldn't involve them. But, she should be safe this time. Right? She was acting in the proper manner and taking caution in how she related to those near her.

Taking caution, and yet that hurt too. Like Vishnal just today. She could have simply sent him on his way after asking about the preparations. That would be the safe thing to do. But it felt so wrong to leave him be and even though she'd tried, she worried that her words might have made things worse. Looking at him now, anyone would see him as calmly helping out with the coronation, if they saw his movements rather than watching Prince Lest being officially given the bracelet and ring that were signs and tools of his new royal status. Or they might hear the optimistic hope that he shared with many of them that they had found a worthy prince this tiime. What they wouldn't see was a hidden turmoil simmering in his heart, threatening to tear apart his hopes and dreams. And the cooking exam was merely the next obstacle.

But this wasn't new. She'd seen many other humans go through similar fights and facades, the greater world not of concern when their inner world was troubled. There were even others in Selphia who felt the same kind of tension, even with the decreased population. If she let herself be worried over all of them, she would end up hurt again when their troubles boiled over the surface. Even if things improved, she would end up hurt as eventually their bodies would die and their souls would pass through the Forest of Beginnings. It was better, safer, and more rational for her to focus on her work maintaining the rune flow and leave them to work out their own lives.

Better, safer... yet she still wanted to help. She wanted to find some way to calm their secret doubts and let them see the truth that was right in their reach. But each of them were a little different and what helped one might not help another. How did she give Vishnal what nudges he needed to stop undermining himself yet keep him from becoming dependent on her? A quick fix would only cause new problems down the road. Not only that, but it was just one person when many more of them needed help with other small problems that meant the world to them. Was it really enough to only change one life at a time or was it unfair?

Ventuswill got so preoccupied with these thoughts that she just barely realized when the ceremony was at its close, the point when she would be actively needed. As a respected elder in town, Volkanon was presenting, "To you our beloved lady Ventuswill, the new Prince of Selphia, Arthur Lest Nolan."

That would have been too embarrassing to have been caught barely paying attention. Where was her mind going? Ventuswill made sure her poise stayed dignified and responded, "We are thankful that you have accepted this great responsibility, Nolan. Let the bells call out that a new reign has begun!" She then called into the warm twilight sky, stirring the wind to blow and set off the bells in the castle's twin spires. Those who were there clapped and cheered, unspoken prayers carrying wishes for a good future in the air.

As that marked the end of the ceremony, Ventuswill moved back to the center of her room. A good future... maybe for them, but her body felt weary in spite of various naps through the day. She hadn't really been hurt by Lest falling on her a few days ago, just shocked and a bit achy now. But her joints tended to get achy at anything these days, from changes in the seasons to oncoming storms. A few weeks ago, she had been thinking and realized that... followed by the realization that maybe her future wouldn't be that long. The earthmate might have been too late this time, fine by her. But then she wouldn't see if the town she loved would survive its current trials, or if this new prince could fulfill the hopes he was inspiring. She might not even get to see if those she watched like Vishnal would find the truth and strength they needed. Or Xiao Pai, or Blossom, or Jones and Nancy, or any of them.

Yet that wasn't the worst she feared would come of her death. There were four wounded souls out there who had been lost for a very long time. If she were to pass on herself, they might remain lost forever. On thoughts of them, Ventuswill struggled to keep herself awake and here. Something had to be done. But what? She had enough troubles just trying to keep herself alive for them and continuing her lifelong work of monitoring the ether sea (which had always been just out of her full control).

"Lady Ventuswill?"

Shaking her wings to get alertness, she looked to see that night had fallen. A light near the entrance to the royal quarters was turned on. It was Lest who was calling her, still wearing the green and blue feathered coat from the ceremony. Not sure how to accept him, she narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't you know better than to disturb a dragon, much less a divine one? I could eat you for being a pest."

He shrugged that off entirely. "You could, but I don't think you will."

So annoying. "Hmph. Well what is it? It's getting late."

"Not that late," Lest said. "I thought we were going to get to talk together today, just the two of us. One of the reasons I was sent here was to help you. While I can't do much at the moment, I can at least get to know you personally."

Was he trying to manipulate her? Normally she could read such things in mortals, but Lest was unusual even for an earthmate. His runes were hard to distinguish from the runes around him as his rune breaking talent set all runes around him to their natural state of being. In fact, the currents seemed to quicken by a small amount as they came near him. "You've got a lot of nerve thinking you can just get to know a being like me," she said, hoping to deter him.

"I don't think so," he said. "Is something wrong? You feel like you're troubled by fear and loneliness, maybe even doubt. I came here to help, that's the whole and honest truth of it."

"Didn't your elder tell you what was wrong?" Ventuswill countered with. Perhaps harshly so, but he was trying to get close and she did not want that.

"When I left, I thought so," he said, his runes clear for a moment in honesty. If Lest had turmoil in his heart, he kept it well in check. His soul had an impression like a tree, swaying under any storms that passed but standing strong through a sound core. It was a strange thing for a human his age. "But I've had lots of questions come up as I reviewed and considered what I was told. Then I meet you and there's more questions. Like, why do you speak so formally when it makes you uncomfortable with stiffness?"

"That seems more of a quibble than an important matter," she said. But how did he pick up on that so fast?

He flinched, then calmed himself to where his runes blurred with the surroundings again. It wasn't a conscious defense, but a defense none the less. Why? To her words, he replied, "I'd rather speak to you however you'd feel comfortable doing so." Lest hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Do you... not like me for some reason?"

"You should know and if you don't, it's a long story," Ventuswill said.

"I guess I don't know all of it," Lest said. "But I really do want to help you. We can talk again tomorrow if you want to go to sleep soon."

"That's probably for the best," she said as he headed back to his room.

Why would they not tell him about their history with her? And for that matter, he had introduced himself as an earthmate student, yet some other statements indicated that he'd not been outside of a tribal village very much in his life. As he was twenty years old, he should have been accepted as a full member of the tribe and not kept with such a lowly title as student. Why would they send one like that when this was a problem they'd been trying to solve for centuries? Unless they recognized the potential he held and sent him in hopes that he'd awaken to it fully with this responsibility on his hands. And then there was his unusual resilience; what was his story?

No, she shouldn't care. Caring about someone was risky, caring about someone with an earthmate around was really risky, so caring about one of them had to be riskiest of all. If he cared enough to...

"He's love aligned," Ventuswill murmured, coming to that realization as she did. Every user of magic was aligned with a particular element, some only to a minor degree but earthmates always had a major alignment. Love magic was difficult to learn past some simple healing spells with other elements in them; mastering the love element was something that often took a long life to accomplish. Other elements could be mastered in a decade or two. Because of that, he might not have reached their expectations of what a twenty-year-old earthmate born into the tribe should be capable of.

And that explained a number of things. Why he winced and asked if she didn't like him when he said earlier that she felt troubled, why he had a resilient emotional strength... an earthmate aligned with love would be empathic to such a degree that hostility, fear, doubt, and loneliness in others could cause pain to them. He was constantly under assault from the emotions of others along with his own feelings. If he didn't learn to deal with it at a young age, such empathy could drive him insane. And his runes were so potent that he could warp the runes around him without even thinking about it. Lest could be a very dangerous individual.

Yet... he could also be an incredible blessing to his community. His empathy would be similar to hers, noticing turmoil in others and wishing to help lessen it. But did he do so because he truly cared or because that turmoil irritated his empathic feelings?

She could find out. Even... start with Vishnal, he needed the help of an empath soon because of his upcoming license exam. The apprentice butler had his own emotional defenses that could make his troubles hard to sense, so she might need to wait for a moment when those defenses were softer to send Lest by and see what happened. Was it too much of a risk though, using an empath she didn't know and a heart that was hiding its current fragility? And how did she start this without making the test obvious?

But she had to start somewhere and would hate to see a person's dream die.

* * *

><p>'I know this is unorthodox, but I must report that I have passed on the position of Selphia's prince to another young man: Arthur Lest Nolan of the Earthmate Tribe. By a series of unforeseen circumstances, the tribe's elders have sent him here on a mission similar to my own in developing Selphia and addressing problems here. He appears to have little political training yet other factors, such as farming experience, put him in a better position to act as the prince in this unusual government. He was also sent to help Lady Ventuswill directly while it was only a minor part of the role I agreed to. As such, he has taken on the title and I plan to remain here as his adviser and political contact.'<p>

Arthur paused a moment in inking the faint pencil marks on his letter. The sunlight from the window had fully faded and he had to watch the lettering by the nearby desk lamp. When drafting the letter, he tried to make it as succinct as possible, restraining it to two sheets while making what occurred today clear. Yet no matter how much he tried to explain it, he had a feeling that others in the royal court might not understand why he was passing up making his hereditary title into an official position even though Selphia's ruler was low in the Norad hierarchy. But it really was simple. Arthur's mission was easier to fulfill in the position he chose and Lest's mission was easier to fulfill in the position he had accepted.

The lines of this paragraph reminded him of instructing Lest before the coronation. One of the first things Arthur asked was what kind of education he had. Without hesitation, Lest answered that he had no formal schooling, only his training within the tribe and studying on his own. Such a thing would be disastrous in most Norad government positions. But not Selphia's prince. On the contrary, being educated in a tight-knit farming community that passed on secret arts in magic made Lest a far better candidate than Arthur with his childhood in a city palace given the top formal education possible in Norad. A peculiar thought, but a very real truth.

In fact, Lest knew more about some things than Arthur did, even unexpected things like an order tablet that was used throughout Norad but not well understood by most who did. "Everyone has to comply with a royal order, but it's rarely viewed as tyrannical if used appropriately," Arthur had said to one of Lest's worries about making people do as he said. They then found the tablet in one of the desk drawers so that Arthur could show it to him. "There is a set list of orders given to you as well as a balance of prince points for you to fulfill them with. You can't activate an order unless you have the points required. Like here, this has some suggestions on town festivals to plan. Once you activate it, the tablet sends the message to the public notice boards in town, or publishes an order message to be delivered to the persons it affects. I'm not sure how it decides on orders to suggest or points, but the better the community likes you, the quicker you seem to earn points."

"It seems to be based on community interest and satisfaction," Lest said, even though he'd only taken a small look over the suggested festival orders.

"Pardon?" He had seemed completely confident in that, like how Arthur felt about giving price averages and ranges on commonly traded goods.

Lest ran his hand along the side, a glimmer of gold briefly showing on his fingers. "There's a love crystal in here which measures several emotional factors through town, such as trust, gratitude, annoyance, fear, hostility, and the bonds between people. Runes don't translate well into numbers, but the crystal interprets it as best as possible and sends it to an analyzer unit. The analyzer must then make orders and assign points based on how well people think of their leader, how much they trust them, and what they'd be willing to do if ordered to do so. Also, it probably decides on what orders to suggest based on things that people in the community see as problems or possibilities. It might even be capable of pulling out an order matching what the leader wants to do if it notices and decides that it would be possible. There's a lot of information in runes that go unseen by many people."

"That actually makes more sense than what I've been told before," Arthur said, impressed that he came up with it on his own. "I never thought one could analyze emotions logically so that an enchanted device like this could work that way."

"It's not so much the emotions as the runes produced and affected by emotions that can be analyzed. Wait, I want to try something." Lest then got the tablet securely in both hands and closed his eyes. After a couple seconds, there was a slight increase in the device's faint hum and a shift in the display page. When he looked at it again, Lest switched back to the menu to get back into the festival potentials. A new one had popped up. "Ah, it worked and now I can order that market clean-up if I want."

Arthur raised his eyebrows at that. "Market clean-up?"

Lest nodded. "Right, as I was walking around town, Vishnal showed me the trader's marketplace and I thought it could use some help. Then I figured, it could make for a good community event too and show that I'm willing to help them improve our hometown when I work for it too."

"That sounds like a good place to start," Arthur said. "Selphia's marketplace is decent, but looks old and plain. Plus there never seems to be enough good power outlets to run the devices modern traders use frequently."

"I thought the wood could use a sanding and refinishing if we get some dry days to do it," Lest said. "Also adding some flags, more colorful covers, and some additional aesthetic touches. But that is going to take more than just the day I was thinking of, and this seems to assume that it's going to take a full week. I don't have the points for it yet."

"Likely because that will be a lot of physical work and the townsfolk just met you today," he said, checking the point requirement on it himself. For being his first day, Lest had a rather high amount of prince points, just over a thousand already. The market clean-up was currently set at twenty-five hundred. "Based on my experience, this could easily work by the time you're out of the cast. Get to know the people more and show them in little ways your willingness to help in order to build up the points to make it official. I'd even suggest that we start planning for it and talking to people, as the tablet might lower the point price if the town anticipates it."

"Good, then let me grab a notebook and ask you what you think the marketplace needs done to it to make it more attractive to traders," Lest said, taking a pencil to make notes.

He was adapting to the role well so far, although Arthur knew a better judgment couldn't come until later. Maybe when the market clean-up became real and Lest showed how willing he was to get involved. There were several ideas Arthur had for it that he would help get done, such as the power supply and getting a free drinking fountain in place to deter unscrupulous merchants who took advantage of thirst spots to sell overpriced drinks. Lest had some practical ideas, such as redoing the wooden platform, as well as some more aesthetic ideas like flags. However, appearance was a good factor in this. A marketplace that was more visually interesting would help to bring in traveling merchants and tourists who might not come by otherwise. Fixing up that location hadn't been in Arthur's mind but it made such sense that he would've wanted it done eventually.

While the clean-up was not yet official, Arthur didn't want to place it in this official letter. This was simply to explain his new stance, convince his family that he believed it would work, and give advance notice that the Sechs Empire seemed to have built something already on Norad soil. Also to convince them not to pull him out of Selphia since Ventuswill hadn't accepted him as the prince. His father had tried to convince Arthur not to take the Selphia princedom as it was a low-ranking position with little chance to advance. At least, that was how most of the royal court viewed it. Arthur had to convince him that the position did deserve someone of his education and competence. Thus, it was certain to come as a shock to them when he gave up the position in minutes after spending days trying to get approved.

It wasn't only a prince who could make a difference in a region, though. Arthur shifted his glasses while thinking on that. On one hand, Lest had the order tablet and could make highly visible changes quickly through it if he gained the people's trust. But Arthur could also make changes by being a permanent trader in town. He could allow the general store to know changing factors in basic goods so they could adjust prices and inventory, like warning them of poor wheat crops elsewhere so they knew to stock up on flour for coming weeks. Or he could find a local crafter whose goods might be desired in other regions of Norad, helping them to price and ship out to where the need was. Like Illuminata's flower shop had an inventory too large for a population this small; she could do better if he arranged for some of her excess to be shipped to other flower shops with a limited inventory. Giving the locals more options and income was sure to help stimulate the economy here too.

He went back to inking the letter, weighing his thoughts again as he did. At the end of it, he added a postscript without drafted letters, taking extra care so the form was clear and fit the lines. 'Father, please give me some time here to prove that this arrangement will work out for the best. I've only known Lest for a brief few hours, but his insight and views have impressed me. He even has a thousand points on the order tablet already. But he needs someone like me here to handle court decorum and Norad political tradition as such things are foreign to him. I feel confident that he can be turned into a prince as worthy as any in our family.'

Or even more worthy than some members of the Norad family. This wasn't the time for such divisions, rather being the time to gain some acceptance in the capitol for Lest. While Ventuswill's word was law around here, Selphia needed Norad's support and protection; Arthur was now their best connection to keep it. Getting his father to accept Lest as prince would secure that. And getting his whole family to accept his decisions, as tough as that might be, would give Arthur some peace of mind.

"Besides, I like the idea of not being treated as a prince anymore," he mumbled to himself. It was part of the reason he had been willing to try farming: it made this princedom seem more like a normal person rather than someone who was kept safe and clean in a castle. Now that he didn't need to worry about learning an entirely new trade, he could focus on what he did well to make his new hometown succeed.

* * *

><p><em>AN: And we're finally done with Spring 2! Now onto the plot... no, wait, Lest broke his leg here instead of his memories. So he's not leaving town for a bit. But there's still several interesting things going on in Selphia now that they have a new prince._

_Nobody says anything about your predecessor. Sometimes I wonder if Ventuswill asked for a volunteer among the residents and nobody stepped forward. I've seen that kind of thing before, where people want to help but nobody wants the responsibility of being the leader._


	7. A Request for Pancakes

**Chapter 7: A Request for Pancakes**

Spring 6, year 1611

While Ventuswill kept trying to give him the cold shoulder, Lest noticed that she enjoyed his company if he simply sat down in the room and started talking. It wasn't much, just reporting in about what was going on in town. She was interested in anything, from the mundane like a mix-up on bath salts at the inn to the exciting like the birth of Nancy's child earlier today.

"They even got a midwife from another town to help them," Lest said about the latter. "I thought it was a little odd since Jones is a doctor and you'd think he know how to handle things. But no, I found out just yesterday that he's really neurotic when it comes to blood and has been known to faint at the sight of it. He even avoids tomatoes because the color's too close. When I heard that, I asked him how he handled treating me since I had to have been bleeding after that impact. Apparently in that scenario, he can tune it out long enough to save the patient but then very often has a panic attack once he stops working. Jones says that he thinks he can handle a delivery, but Nancy is the one better trained for it and they both felt more secure with someone who's not going to get terrified of cleaning up afterwards."

"I've seen nervous new fathers before but that's on an entirely new level," Ventuswill said, her words far more relaxed than normal. She didn't even seem to notice it herself.

And Lest didn't want to point it out just yet. "It's amazing in its own way, since anyone else wouldn't pick a career that involved such an irrational fear. But no, he likes helping people enough that he faces his fear every day to do so."

Some chatter came from the hall to the servant's area, so they put their conversation on hold to see who it was. Clorica came in, along with Nem holding onto a large box. "Excuse me, Lest," Clorica said, awake for now. "You've got a delivery and visitor."

"Nem, good to see you again so soon!" he said, waving from his chair.

"Yeah, you too!" she said, grinning as she came to place the box at his side. "How's being a prince going for you?"

"I don't think it's entirely sunk into my mind yet," Lest said. The fact surprised him when he got up this morning. "But I'm more anxious to get back full use of my legs to really think about it. What're you doing with the mail?"

Happy that he noticed, she said, "Lena and I are working a postal ship now. That Sechs warship still has folks spooked and the previous crew on this route didn't want to come into Selphia or the neighboring regions. Once Lena snapped at them and said that the mail should be flying anyhow, the NACC officers were more than happy to give us the job. Here, I need you to sign for this and then I gotta run so we can make the next town on time. We still need to keep sharp eyes when flying around here."

Lest took her clipboard and signed for the delivery. "I hope you two stay safe doing this. And it's good to know you'll be dropping by regularly, even for short times of work."

"Better that then nothing," she agreed. "Later." She offered a salute of respect to Ventuswill, then headed out to get to the airfield.

"Do you need help with the box?" Clorica asked, bringing out a pocketknife.

"Depends on what's in it," he said, leaning over and testing the string tied around it. Clorica handed over her knife, so Lest cut the envelope off to check the letter then let her handle opening the box itself.

"Who's it from?" Ventuswill asked curiously, causing Clorica to pause a moment before clipping off the string.

"It's from my father," Lest said, surprised that a package had come so soon. Had he missed anything in packing? He lost some things on the airship, but didn't think his family would try to replace it this fast. He opened the letter but read it silently.

'Lest, this is something that your mother was working on for you in her last year. Frey and I had to finish them from her designs, but some of the materials and charms took time to find and we couldn't get it together until just now. I don't know what the elder told you, but sending you on this mission was Joyce's idea; she insisted on it to the end and then Frey took over for her. Making this set of equipment was part of that. One thing she made clear in the design is that she wants you to wear the jasper charm when in the area around the rune springs. She carved it with a particular pattern to protect you from something specific to those place. When I asked Frey about it, she said you'd know it when you saw it even if you've never seen it before.

'This whole incident with you ending up as Selphia's prince definitely wasn't in the plans, but it sounds like it's going to help more than hinder. I certainly wasn't expecting to get a letter saying that my son was now royalty. But i'm really happy that it's happened to you; you've been through many rough seasons yet have stuck by your beliefs, especially on the importance of love. You should be able to make everyone proud of you; I hope it works out well for you.

'As for Frey, she's planning a trek of her own. She'll be here in Grelin for a few days longer finishing up some research before she heads off too. Just don't expect a letter from her yet. When I said I was going to write you back, she said to make sure that you knew that she really misses your pancakes and will tell you something important if you send some to her. I want to say that she's joking, but you know how she is. It wouldn't hurt to humor her request.

'I remembered a short while ago about when you two were born; I was so happy, like the future could hold anything for us. But you becoming a prince is beyond any dream we had for you two. It's made me recall some of my own dreams from my youth and I'm seriously considering leaving Grelin as well to see if I can still fulfill them. Like, I've always wanted to make a pilgrimage to meet with all four of Norad's divine dragons. This seems like as good of a time as any to set out on that trek. After all, with both of you flying from the nest, a non-earthmate like me is quite out of place here in Grelin. And if I follow this dream, I'm sure to come around to see you sometime in the future.

'While it is important to finish up your mother's family quest, don't neglect to chase your own dreams. With pride and love, Corrin Nolan'

Lest smiled and almost felt like he could tear up a little at reading his father's affection. Corrin didn't speak about feelings much, often worried about being misunderstood. Not here, it was perfectly clear just in the words. He knew he'd have to write up a letter tonight to send back tomorrow and encourage that pilgrimage to follow those dreams.

"Is this armor or clothes?" Clorica asked, pulling out a dark green cloak. It had been folded up, but once she got it undone, it was clearly armor for a magic-wielder. A vest of gold scales was hidden under the thick fabric while lines of magic amplifying silver thread hid in the cloak. Normally, that meant the armor had enchantments which the silver thread would maintain in a consistent manner around him. But this one had no enchantments; his family would know that he'd undo nearly anything put on it. Then why the amplifiers?

"It's armor that my parents made for me," Lest said, looking in the box. There was a smaller wooden box under the cloak, along with a charm hairpin without the charm, protective casting gloves that might be more handy than a staff, and boots. "Looks like a full set of gear too... I had no idea they were doing this."

"That seems like it should be enchanted, but it's not," Ventuswill said, looking at the cloak too.

"I was wondering about that myself," he said, taking the small box to look inside. That explained why the gear had been made as it was: a number of charms set in square bases was inside. "Oh, this... it must work by setting these charms to use the natural flow of runes in activating a material's innate powers."

"Wow, your parents must be amazing to make an altering cloak like this," Clorica said with a smile.

"My mother and sister are both crafting earthmates, making me the odd one out as a farmer," Lest said, picking out the jasper charm mentioned. It was a stone of red and violent bands; one of the ancient holy words written on it, meaning pure or clean. Was it meant to protect from some kind of impurity? But since she specified at the rune springs, he felt there must be something else it was protection from. "I'll have to thank them for finishing it. And of course my sister is demanding pancakes. Probably since I didn't make any the morning I left."

Ventuswill seemed oddly interested in this, asking, "You make pancakes?"

Pancakes weren't hard to make, Lest thought. But the divine dragon had a look to her eye that reminded him of the eager expression Frey had whenever she asked him if he was going to make pancakes the next morning. Ventuswill was leaning her head down hopefully. "Oh yeah, and my sister loves them," he said. "She says I make the best pancakes in the world, although she tends to exaggerate when it comes to things she likes. Any time she seems down, I know I can cheer her up by making them."

"Aw, how sweet," Clorica said, folding up the cloak to put back in the box.

Then Ventuswill surprised both of them by asking timidly, "Would you make me pancakes? Please?"

"Sure, I'd be happy to," Lest said. "I need to make some for Freya, so..."

"Yay, pancakes! Pancakes!" Ventuswill was so pleased that she grinned and seemed to dance in place a moment.

Clorica looked stunned, but Lest had to laugh. "Wow, you sound just like she does. All right, if that will make you happy, I'll get to it. Although, since I'd have to use a stovetop, I'd need a cooking license, right?"

"Oh, yes, you would," Clorica said.

"Aw, so it won't be for a few days?" Ventuswill asked sadly.

The butler put a hand to her cheek. "Well, Vishnal is retaking his cooking license exam tomorrow and Porcoline is always glad to see more people that can cook fully. If I hurry over there, I might be able to convince him to let Lest take one too."

Right then, there were some footsteps as Vishnal came in; that was some impeccable timing, Lest thought. Meanwhile, Ventuswill nodded. "Yes, you should do that. Then we can have his pancakes sooner!"

"Okay," Clorica said cheerfully before turning to Vishnal. "Oh good, here you are. Lest might be taking the exam too, so would you help him get his box to his room and tell him about it? I have to go ask about it."

"All right," he said. Although he agreed with it, Lest picked up on a strong anxiety from Vishnal at mention of this exam. She did say he was retaking it; maybe it was a tough one. Vishnal got the box while Lest got out of the chair and excused himself from Ventuswill's company.

Back in his room, Lest had Vishnal hang the cloak up in his wardrobe while he sat on a couch to examine the other pieces. They too had been built to amplify and direct magic spells, but held no innate ones. This all had been designed with his rune break ability in mind, including his naturally low casting range that was a result of it. He likely wouldn't come across anything better unless he custom ordered gear from another master craftsman. "I might need to get some crafting tools to place the charm, if they don't just click into place," he said, mostly to himself.

"There should be a few around," Vishnal said.

"Later," Lest said, opening the charm box again to see what he had available. There were even some blank charms so that he could use materials he found. "What's this cooking exam like?"

Vishnal took a deep breath, then said, "Well since Porcoline has been recognized many times as the best chef in Selphia, it's always taken in his kitchen. He'll have us prepare a certain dish, then ask questions about cooking while he watches over our work. He provides the equipment and ingredients, and lets people come in to watch and try the food. Usually, I had no one show up last time I tried."

That was hitting on a serious weak point, Lest noticed, the kind of thing he needed to be careful around. Sometimes it helped to aim through a person's defenses, but other times poking too close to a sensitive subject would cause the person to shut him out. When he had been trying to figure out how to use his talents on his neighbors in Grelin, he'd had the latter happen many times. "Bad day for people to be around?"

"Not really," Vishnal said. "I'm not that good at cooking. I'm trying to get better, but I can only practice so much without a license that I need to get the license to get better. Only, then I also need to get better just to get the license."

"Sounds like a tough spot to be in," Lest said. "But you get enough practice in and you'll get good at it."

"That's what I'm hoping for," he said. It didn't entirely undo his anxiety, but getting him to think positive should be a good start.

A few minutes later, Clorica came back. "He said it's fine for both of you to take the test tomorrow," she said. Then she smiled. "Although, it was really more of a 'Woohoo! Double the chef for double the delight.' Or something close to that."

Vishnal chuckled. "He can never give a simple no or yes."

"Well it's nice since I've never seen Lady Ventuswill sound so happy," Clorica said. "If I'd known she liked pancakes, I would've made her some before."

* * *

><p>Spring 7<p>

While on their way to the restaurant, Lest considered that his main obstacle would be explaining how he cooked if asked. He was so used to sensing the runes in everything that he learned new skills through paying attention to the runes. For instance, he couldn't explain how he knew when oil would be hot enough to start cooking, at least not in a way most others could understand. It was when the oil runes had a certain amount of heat offense to match the defenses of whatever he wished to cook. But it had no numbers or anything to it. He would know similar to how others knew when they found two colors that were the same. The properties would match.

He didn't know what exactly Vishnal's skill level was, but his anxiety over failure was perhaps a larger obstacle. While he seemed mostly calm and quiet on the way over, his runes betrayed a rush of doubts and thoughts circling through his mind. A worry about making a mistake could end up causing the mistake to happen, making the person think they just weren't capable and stunting their development right there. At times, it was best to step away from repeated failure. Lest wasn't sure if this was at that point, though. Or if this really was all that important to being a butler since people who could afford butlers could afford a chef as well. Still, there might be things Lest could do to help in this test without making it obvious.

It was a quiet morning; the few others they saw were busy at their jobs. Some tulips and daffodils were starting to grow above ground as it was warming enough for them. Seeing those and the budding trees, he couldn't help but think that spring farming was going to be half gone by the time he could start. It would avoid potential late frosts that could happen now, but he might end up getting some potions to quicken the sprouts to be where he should be once he could start. Although, where to get the money for that was a problem. Maybe he would find some small jobs to do between now and then. At least his cherry grass and daffodil arrangement was coming along nicely. He had to sing a delay to the bulb and an encouragement to the grass so that they would come into bloom around the same time.

When they got into Porcoline's Kitchen, Margaret was there cleaning tables but she was the only one there aside from the chef. Porcoline was dressed in bright yellow and pink today, reminding Lest of a frilly rose. He waved them to join him in the kitchen area. "Welcome to your destiny, boys!" he said excitedly. "I hope we can make a delightful lunch together. Now, I've asked before, but I'll ask again... Vishnal, do you have any dishes as your specialty?"

"No, not yet," he said.

"Well I hope you can find something to excite your passion," Porcoline said, giving him a warm smile. He definitely wanted to see Vishnal succeed, but a measure of honesty kept him from simply giving the license away. "So then, Lest, nice to see that you'd come in for cooking even on crutches!"

"Yeah, it might make this tough," he said. "But I need to keep my word to two wonderful ladies."

That delighted him. "Oo, playing a dangerous game of love, are we?"

Keeping a deadpan expression, Lest said, "Oh yes, my sister isn't going to forgive me for moving until I cook for her again, and the other lady might very well eat me if she gets mad as she's a dragon."

"Of course, but you still need to prove your worth here in the kitchen," Porcoline said. "So, do you have any specialty dishes?"

Lest nodded. "It might sound silly, but yes, pancakes."

"No, that sounds positively delightful!" Porcoline looked around the kitchen, then clapped his hands. "All right then, we're going to have a pancake lunch! Lest, you handle the pancakes. Vishnal, you're going to cook up some sausages, then use that to make a gravy. I'll put together a fruit salad and cook up some bacon, then gather other toppings. Any questions?"

"How many people do we need to plan for?" Lest asked. Meanwhile, he considered that Vishnal's task didn't sound too bad. The butler was still nervous about it.

"It's not a market day, so twenty-five should do it," Porcoline said. "But do make plenty of pancakes in case some people want to take a few home for later."

"Right, and I'd need some extras to ship," he said. Mail here was expected in the early afternoon, so he should be able to get some together along with the letter he'd written this morning to send right away.

Once the meal plans were agreed on and discussed, the three of them started to work. As Lest looked around for his ingredients and utensils, he started in on his plan to help Vishnal out subtly. Fully manipulating the emotions of another was something distasteful to him, but Lest had discovered a way to soothe another's nerves as long as they were nearby. He'd spent several seasons practicing his own calmness to avoid his emotions influencing the weather (something he didn't fully understand or control, but knew he was capable of under powerful emotions). If he made a focused effort on calmness, bringing the quiet strength of a tree to his soul, he could extend that calmness to another person. It didn't always work; someone in a full panic or similarly strong emotion couldn't be reached like this. But starting now when Vishnal was merely anticipating problems, Lest was able to cover the voices of those doubts and let him start working in gathering ingredients and checking Porcoline's recipe cards.

Lest got a pencil and paper once he had the tools he wanted. He usually just made small batches of pancakes for himself and his family. Making pancakes for an expected group of twenty-five... he wrote down his usual measurements and resulting pancake numbers, then what he wanted to make... after drawing a blank, he asked, "Hey Vishnal, you good with numbers?"

"Yes, what do you need?" he asked, coming over to his side.

"The right proportions on my ingredients since I usually don't make this much at once," he said, passing over the paper and pencil.

"Okay..." he looked at it for a second, then filled in the numbers for weight of flour, number of eggs, volume of milk, and so on. "That should work."

"Let me check," Porcoline said, stopping by with a bundle of sealed strawberries and bananas. Seeing the modifications, he nodded. "Yes, that ought to do it! Good work, I think I could count that for three of your exam questions, Vishnal."

Between Lest's calming tactics and the praise for something he found simple, Vishnal started feeling happy in spite of doing something he normally was anxious about. "It was no trouble," he said, but smiled and went back to his work with a newfound enthusiasm.

Lest felt happy too, as he always did when he could help someone out. But he had his own tasks and exam. Taking the list, he measured out the ingredients. Porcoline worked nearby in cutting up the fruits, sending their sweet aromas into the air. "Then Lest, we'll start with you. Say you want to mix things up with a familiar recipe. What would be a good thing to add?"

"New spices or herbs can give a dish a different taste," he said. "As long as you pay attention to the qualities of the spice and what would work well with the normal ingredients, it should work out. And vegetables are usually a good addition to a basic dish, making it more of a meal."

"Good answers! I like blending up vegetables and slipping them into sauces or ground meat dishes in order to really boost up the goodness."

The questions weren't that hard for the most part, like asking for techniques on cutting onions or potatoes, safety precautions to keep in mind for frying or baking, and what ingredients were expected to be in certain dishes. Porcoline also watched how they worked, especially when Lest was cracking the eggs and blending the batter. When most of Lest's trouble seemed to come from trying to work around the crutches, Margaret brought in a tall chair so he could set them aside. Meanwhile, Vishnal had no problem with the sausage patties, but did spend a few long minutes looking over Porcoline's reference on making a cream gravy with the bits left over from the sausage cooking.

When he was making it, Porcoline was briefly at the other end of the kitchen gathering pancake topping supplies while the two of them worked side by side. The heat and sauce didn't quite match on Vishnal's side, with the runes bugging Lest. Since their examiner wasn't right there, he quietly suggested, "Turn your heat down a notch; you don't want to scorch the milk."

"Oh, right," he said, fixing that issue. "Thanks. Seems like there's not much range between too hot for the milk and too cool and taking really long to get done."

"Usually you're okay as long as you keep stirring it," Lest said. "But you're working with an already hot skillet and shallow depth, so that takes extra care. You seem to be doing well, though."

Vishnal smiled. "Yeah. It's weird because I was so nervous coming up here, but then once I started working, all that just melted away and it's not so bad."

"Sometimes the anticipation is worse than the doing," he said, even though he was still keeping up on his calming trick. Get him past this and he might be fine on his own.

While Lest was flipping his many pancakes for this lunch exam, people started to come in. Arthur for one came in from the other ground level room with a bundle of files in his hand. "I didn't hear that we'd have guest chefs today," he said as he came by the customer counter.

"These wonderful fellows are taking their cooking exams today," Porcoline explained. "It's so exciting! There will be breakfast for lunch!"

"That's odd, but I smell bacon and I wouldn't turn that down," Arthur said with a smile.

Vishnal finished up pouring his sausage gravy into the last of the gravy boats, meticulously not getting a drop outside or on the vessels. "There, I'm done!" he said, pleased with his efforts.

"Excellent, let me see how it came out," Porocline said, waiting on Vishnal to bring a pair of the gravy boats to where the rest of the supplies were waiting. The chef took a spoon to try a sample, smacking his lips at it. Lest glanced over in time to see Porcoline just about crush Vishnal in an enthusiastic hug. "Marvelously done! Oh my, I'm so proud to have seen such improvement out of you! It makes my heart glad."

"Th-thank you," Vishnal said, trying not to gasp too much.

"You've still got a long road ahead of you, but I'm sure you'll do just fine," Porcoline said, letting him go and not taking heed of any discomfort he was causing. It might be something to watch for, although hopefully the fact that Lest's chest was in bandages would ward off any hugs. "Since you're done, please set the tables as I've decided there should be some scrambled eggs too. This is going to be just delightful; I hope more people show up!"

Arthur was now off in the dining area, with his files stacked on a table so he could keep working on them. Margaret helped Vishnal with the table setting while Porcoline set up by Lest and started singing. Others came in, including Clorica and Volkanon who also brought some work to complete while waiting. Lest was sealing off a set to reserve for Ventuswill when Kiel and Forte arrived. "Hey Vishnal, doing some extra work today?" Kiel asked.

"No, I've been taking my cooking license exam with Prince Lest," he replied.

"What kind of disaster we going to have today?" Forte said jokingly. "Can't be any worse than mine."

"We are having not-a-disaster breakfast lunch!" Porcoline said, cutting off his song. "But it's too late to be a brunch. And this is all in spite of the guy in a cast being the one on the griddle."

"It's weird working from a chair, but I'm just about done," Lest said.

"He has the most angelic pancakes waiting for you all," Porcoline added, although Lest hadn't seen him try one. "Seriously, you can start drooling in anticipation now."

"Sure smells good," Kiel said, taking a seat near Blossom and Doug to talk with them (Blossom mostly).

"Now how did your specialty end up as pancakes?" Porcoline asked, nudging him in the arm.

"It's one of the things my mother did well and she taught me to cook," he said. The others could probably hear him due to the openness of the room, but he didn't mind. "They're my sister's favorite food; she really loved it when mom would cook them for breakfast or a treat. But our mother died a few years back, leaving me to take up all the cooking in the house. After a while, I started making pancakes again to try cheering my sister up. It worked and now I know that if Freya does something nice for me without asking, she probably expects pancakes in return. I'm fine with that, it's more than worth it."

"So touching," Porocline said, with a bit more drama than needed. "But that explains all the love found in your pancakes. They cheer me up too."

"Any cooking cheers you up," Margaret said teasingly. "Just make sure to save plenty for everyone else."

"Of course I am," Porcoline said, indignant now (although barely feeling it compared to the degree in his words). "What do you think I am, a pig?"

'You've crossed over into hog a long time ago," she replied, still teasing. It made Porcoline want to laugh, but he restrained himself to banter with her a little longer.

Although Vishnal said that his last exam hadn't been attended by anyone, nearly everyone in town had come in today. It was a thought with some sadness, since Porcoline's estimate was high on attendance in spite of that. But everyone enjoyed themselves and the food, praising Vishnal for his efforts and often joking that they never expected him to do so well. Most of them enjoyed the pancakes a lot too, with only Doug giving nothing but a shrug when asked by Blossom if he liked them.

Porcoline spent the lunch walking around the room with a plate in his hand, constantly chatting with everyone. He slipped off through a back door for a moment, then came back out with two certificate papers. "Everyone, I pleased to say that today, I can name two new chefs in town: Lest and Vishnal! Congratulations you two, and I'll be happy to help you keep improving your skills any time."

"Great, I'm going to work hard on getting better," Vishnal said as he accepted the certificate. His happiness was beaming even as he tried to keep to his usual composure.

"Thanks, this is going to help out a lot," Lest said as he took his. Seeing as this would be a good moment, he raised his voice to say, "Everyone? Could I have a few moments to speak while we're all gathered?"

"What would you do if someone said no?" Blossom asked in an innocent tone, getting others to laugh. "Go ahead."

It'd be nice if I could stand easily for this, he thought. "Had to ask. Some of you may have heard this, but Arthur and I have been planning to have a heavy cleaning for the marketplace this spring, whenever I can get around easier to help with it. We'd like everyone's help with this, whatever you can do to make the market a brighter and better place to be. Things aren't set yet, but so far we plan on spending a day moving the stalls off the platform in order to rework the plumbing for a drinking fountain and fix up the electrical system and lighting. Then we'll be sanding and refinishing all of the wood surfaces, including the stalls, which will take a day or two. Once these practical aspects are covered, we're going to move the stalls back and work on the look of the place: replace the plain canvas covers with more colorful ones, add in some flags, maybe add some permanent decorations to the stalls, redo the paint on the town gates, whatever we can do to make it all look better for visitors and merchants. If you have any ideas for this or want to go ahead and volunteer some work done, just talk with me anytime. Sound good?"

"Sounds great!" Margaret said, and the others agreed with her. Lest felt glad; that should reduce the cost of the event's order so that he could set it up when he knew he'd be ready.

As the meal came to a close and people were either chatting or heading out, Lest got back to the kitchen area to claim the two sealed pancake groups he'd set aside. Clorica showed up near him without warning. "Do you need help getting those back to the castle?"

"No, I think I can handle the one," he said, sliding one towards her. "But would you please get that boxed up to mail out today? I've got the letter here," he found it in his belt bag, so passed it over. "That address should work."

Clorica looked at it, then nodded. "Mmhmm. I'll get that to the mail ship. Oh, and thanks for helping out Vishnal and Lady Ventuswill."

"I didn't do much," Lest said. At least not much he was willing to admit yet.

'But they're both so happy it's wonderful," she said. "He did say that you talked with him some, so it must have been enough. I feel like things are going to turn out all right with you here now."

"Sounds like I'm gonna have to work hard to keep up with these expectations," he said with a smile.

It was good to have those living under the same roof as him (more or less) having confidence in him now. Even Volkanon's opinion of him had improved even if he didn't say anything. The head butler helped him set up a small table in Ventuswill's room, then left them alone for Lest to give her her portion of the pancakes. Since he'd already eaten, Lest sat nearby and told her about how the exam and lunch went.

Even about his quickly given tip in the middle of cooking. "He was doing everything else right, so I didn't want to let that slip-up go on too long."

Ventuswill leaned her head down and said quietly, "That wasn't all you did for him."

"What're you talking about?" he asked with a grin, although he expected she knew.

The dragon chuckled. "Well it seems you can decipher runes nearly as well as I can. Even influence them. I may have been here in body, but I could be there in spirit and observe what went on. The whole exam, you were acting as a calming presence for him by intentionally getting his runes to synchronize with yours. It's not something easy for humans to do without the other's knowledge."

"Okay fine, I'll admit to that if it stays between us," Lest said. "I want him to think he passed the test on his own efforts even if I was keeping his nerves in check. And it was his efforts, since I was busy cooking for my own test."

She nodded. "That's good. You know, I've been worried about him for a while. Vishnal has big dreams and I've seen his dedication in attaining what he wants. He's not someone who is just waiting for his dreams to come for him, he's actively going out after them. However, he started without many strong talents, unlike Clorica. She had a knack for a few things when she came, while he had a long road ahead of him. He sees how far he's got to go and is starting to get weary of it, but forgets to notice just how far he's come already. At this point, it might seem easier to give up and settle for where he is. But I wanted to encourage him and see him get to the point he wants to be at."

Now that she was talking, her true feelings were coming through more clearly. "You really care about the people here, don't you?"

"W-well I shouldn't," she said, shuffling her wings nervously. "But then, even at small victories like today, it's a real joy to see my neighbors happy. I'd like to see them all find their dreams, not just Vishnal." Ventuswill bumped his forehead with her snout, a friendly little gesture that made him unable to resist reaching up to pat her nose. "Lest, would you keep helping me like this? To help those in Selphia find their happiness, whatever it may be?"

"Of course," he said. "I came here to help you after all, and that sounds even better than just helping you."

"Wonderful!" She smiled in a surprisingly sweet way on a dragon. "Although, any time you feel like making pancakes, I'd love to share them. They're heavenly."

"I wouldn't call them that good, but thank you," he said. Since she still had her head near him, he gave her a little hug as best he could.

Ventuswill giggled. "Yeah, that's great! Oh, and here, I want you to have this." There was a shimmer of the air by him, a moment before a pretty feather charm appeared. It even had a back that perfectly matched those on his new armor set. "It's a special charm, made of my own feathers! I, well, I only give this to my friends, so treasure it please."

"Of course, thank you Ventuswill," Lest said. He worried for a moment about taking it, but then noticed that it had similar qualities to the charms his parents had made for his cloak. Its power was based on the runes of the materials rather than added enchantments. Thus, it should be safe from his rune breaking power. "I'm honored to be your friend."

"More than being a prince?" she asked playfully. "And you can call me Venti if it's just the two of us. It's cuter than my full name, isn't it?"

"Definitely honored more than being a prince, Venti," he told her honestly. Because how many people could claim to be a friend of one of the divine dragons?

* * *

><p>AN: Both writing and editing this chapter make me want pancakes...

Jasper is relatively easy to carve symbols onto, making it popular for charms. Well, that and the fact that it comes in all kinds of colors, patterns, and qualities. They're really pretty stones. As for the cooking exam, I'm trying to blend how it works in the game with how actual cooking is. Like with Lest's answer on how to change a basic dish. Changing the spices works in real cooking (I do this often), while adding high level vegetables works in the game (I put level 10 green peppers in any recipe with open slots because I ended up with loads of them). Although there's plenty of real dishes where adding vegetables helps, even as Porco said it.


	8. Butterfly Dreams

**Chapter 8: Butterfly Dreams**

Spring 12

"Hey, it all right if I come in?" Doug asked, standing in the doorway to Lest's office.

"Sure thing, sit down if you like," Lest said with a smile. It was unexpected, given that Doug hardly said anything to him. Or anyone, from what Lest had seen of him in the store. But Doug did seem uneasy and defensive today. It'd be best to stay cautious and not prod him with questions about his uneasiness even if he was in a mood to talk. "What's on your mind?"

"It's about that market cleaning and fixing you want to do," he said, coming over and taking a folded paper out of his side bag. He handed it over while taking the offer of a seat. "I need to pick up some tools I don't have at the moment, but I'm qualified to handle electrical work. Since it's for the town's benefit, I won't charge much for it this time."

Lest nodded as he unfolded the paper, an electrician's degree from a school in a town he'd never heard of, Medritarc. But from the spelling and letter forms, not just the name 'Doug Geisel', the town must have had dwarven origins. "Great, that'll help a lot. We've been looking at hiring contractors from the capitol, but local workers would be better. Okay, let me get the plans I have." He pulled open a drawer to the desk to bring out a blueprint Arthur had found of the marketplace's current design. "Can you redo the lights as well?"

"Sure, I've worked on them before," Doug said, rubbing his head. "At least the street lights near the store; Granny complained about how the one flickered, so I got that working steadily again when I had a couple hours and a ladder."

"They don't look different, but I wouldn't know if they are," Lest said. "Interesting to see that a dwarven town would teach electrical work."

That made him nervous, but he said, "Well if it had been Telliarc nearby, you're right, they're traditionalists who don't fully trust electric power and modern machines. Medritarc is more liberal and works as a trading post between Telliarc and most of Norad, so we don't mind it as much."

"I can understand that," he said, trying to smooth over that mistake. "My birth town of Grelin doesn't have many visitors from outside the earthmate tribe, with several others my age or older moving to the trader's town of North Oaken for similar reasons." He found the electrical diagrams in the blueprints to show Doug. "Arthur thinks the generator under the deck should be thoroughly checked in case it needs to be replaced. Especially since we'd like to put in more outlets so that they're in convenient reach of every stall. And the lights may need to be shifted and added to in order to cut down on dark areas at night."

"This town's pretty safe, but couldn't hurt to be careful," Doug agreed, looking at the schematics himself. "Does seem to be an old generator by this. Is there a maintenance trolley down there? Might be locked."

"I'm not sure myself, but we can ask," Lest said, flipping open his bracelet to call on Volkanon. The butler showed up a few minutes later while they were talking about how the lights might be redone. "Hey, Doug's agreed to check into the electrical system for the market and needs to see the generator."

While unnerved to be silently asked to add his own input, Doug nodded. "Yeah, do you guys have trolleys under the overhang for maintenance? What kind of permission do I need to get under there?"

"There's a couple of trolley carts to check on the structures down there," Volkanon said. "They're locked and I need to go with you the first time to make sure you know how to be safe down there. But I've got some free time later today when I could take you for a look."

"Cool, then it shouldn't be a hard job," Doug said. "I've been meaning to order the extra tools anyhow. When's this cleaning gonna be?"

"Jones wants to keep me in the cast another seven weeks, so it'll be a while," Lest said. It really bugged him, since it meant he wouldn't get anything done with the rune spheres until late spring. That made it risky knowing that people were willing to steal them. "No date has been set yet, but that's the current time frame. That fine with you?"

"Sure, once I see what needs to be done, I'll put in the tool order," he said.

Then there was another knock at his office door with another visitor. "Excuse me," Forte said, coming into the room. "We have a problem and I need you to send out a restriction order."

"Sure, where is that?" Lest asked, taking his order tablet in hand.

"Over here," Volkanon said, pointing out a 'mandate' option.

Nothing on the list actually cost points, he noticed. But they were all orders to send out warnings to citizens and visitors, like if the Sechs warship showed up again or if a big storm was approaching. Most were grayed out, unable to be used right now. "All right, and what's the trouble?"

"We need to forbid travel into Yokmir Forest and the roads close to it due to the appearance of Ambrosia," Forte said.

The order became highlighted and altered as the knight said it. "Is that a monster?" he asked, activating the restriction order.

Forte nodded. "Yes, and not one we can easily handle. It's unusual because it doesn't return to the Forest of Beginnings when defeated, instead returning to the wind rune spring in Yokmir Forest. The worst thing about it is that those attacked might be poisoned by butterfly dreams."

"Poison by butterfly dreams?" Doug asked in disbelief.

"It's serious," Forte said, a touch of anger in her runes showing that this was personal. "Those afflicted either see butterflies that aren't there and try to follow them off cliffs, or believe that they are butterflies and try to fly off. We've got a cure for it, but it doesn't always work and takes a while when it does. In the meantime, the victims have to be watched closely and can't take care of themselves."

"Are there any victims now or was it just a sighting?" Lest asked in concern.

"Actually, there's two victims in the clinic right now," she admitted, ashamed at not being able to help them in time. "Xiao and Margaret were in the area together when Ambrosia appeared. I got lucky to run across them. Even though I dispatched it, it's likely to return to the same area in a day or so. We mostly have to wait until it heads deeper into the forest before lifting the restriction."

"It's been a while since we've had more than one victim show up," Volkanon said, worried about the girls.

Lest was too, but the situation was giving him an idea. "Do you happen to know if it's a curse or literal poison?" he asked.

"I think it's a curse," Forte said, not sure about it. "Ambrosia's not a monster to take lightly even if you can avoid the butterflies."

"Don't worry, I can tell that," Lest said. "I was just thinking of something. Anything else going on I should know of?"

Forte said she would give her usual patrol report later on and Doug seemed satisfied with what they had discussed on the marketplace system. Once they had all left, Lest left the office as well to get to his bedroom. He was keeping his letters on top of the bedside chest, although he'd like to keep them in one of the chest's drawers once he could kneel better. One of them included the letter from Frey after he'd sent her the pancakes; he took to glance over again.

'Dear Lest,

'Whoopee, I have pancakes again! At least for a few days, you know. Which means you're fine for having left so quickly. I suppose you do have a point that it would've been best if you could get the rune spheres in place as soon as possible. Just now your possible is longer than you thought. Get better soon!

'Taking a serious note for a while, there was something I wanted to tell you before you took off. It's a long story, like way long. And I still think you should hear about it eventually. But given what questions you asked and what ideas you seem to have, I think I'm gonna hold onto it for a time longer. I don't want to impede you, yet you seem to be right on track to do what we hope without knowing everything yet. So I want to see what you do. I will answer exactly what you ask, promise, so those answers are, in no particular order:

'You are exactly the right person we were hoping for without knowing it. And by we, I mean long story lots of we.

'Our family has worked with Ventuswill before, but be careful in telling her that. I wouldn't just yet.

'Okay, this could get long. The guardians created by etherlink should still be alive in spirit. They were put to sleep with this powerful enchantment so that their bodies could be fused with the rune springs and their spirits sent into the ether sea. The connection they have between body and spirit, as well as between themselves and the divine wind, helps to stimulate the ether flow and lessen the burden on Ventuswill. There has been debate in very small circles about if the guardians retained their memory, personality, and humanity. By the evidence I've seen in references, I believe that they kept their selves together and, at a spiritual level, are exactly like a person in a deep sleep, dreams and all. Just not with a physical body right now.

'Theoretically speaking, if the etherlink enchantment were to fail, their spirits may wake up. But you have to remember that the guardians all took on this grave duty willingly. They may be capable of refusing to give up and rebuilding the enchantment. Even if they are willing to step down and wake up, they will need something of their body in order to come back as a full person rather than a spirit or monster. Since they were fused with the rune springs, there is likely something in that area that actually is their body even if it doesn't look to be.

'It'd work best to call their spirits back through their body. The rune springs and spheres in combination should be capable of remaking them whole.

'I don't know how all this would work out in practical manners, only theoretical. There might be complications our theories can't predict. But that's your job to deal with being there in person.

'The elder asked you because that was the last thing mother asked of her.

'Figure it out yet? If you don't, I'm gonna fly on over there and smack the answer into your head. But I don't think I'll have to. I know you can do what is really being asked of you. In fact, I know that I couldn't do this. It's something that I don't have the talents for. I totally believe in you, though. Mom does too.

'I am working on something related to your work. Or rather, continuing the work that's been going on. As I said, it's a really long story. And I have to go all over creation to get the materials. Don't worry about me; I'm taking Doomgale and Flareson and we'll be just peachy together. I am worried about where dad's going, but I'm gonna trust him too. Someday, we'll all be back together as a happy family and there will be many pancakes. There will be many pancakes, right?

'Love ya Leslie,

'Frey(a)'

"I know what you're asking me to do," he said quietly. "Awaken the guardians."

It was something he wanted to do himself. Even after Venti started opening up to him, Lest still saw a deep loneliness and sadness in her. He was almost certain that it was because of the guardians. After all, etherlink cast on a human would not be powerful enough to revive a rune spring unless the human had a powerful bond to the one who maintained it. To have the desire to make such a sacrifice, these four guardians had to be among Ventuswill's closest friends. The rune spheres should work far better than the guardians in part because they didn't need such bonds and would not cause grief. As such, it only made sense to awaken them and bring them back to Venti when he fulfilled his stated mission of putting the spheres in the springs.

But etherlink was a rare, powerful, and complex enchantment, with the guardians being created centuries ago. While his rune breaker talent was enough to reduce a newly brewed potion to its separate parts in seconds, he was sure that he'd need to consciously use it in order to break something on the level of etherlink. Most of his studying had gone into learning to hold the breaking power back so he didn't undo the spell casting of others nearby. He'd only actively used it to make his magic counter spell. He needed to practice breaking enchantments now, the more complex and potent the better. But few enchanters would be willing to create magical artifacts meant to be broken. Maybe battling another magic user? That still wouldn't be the same as undoing etherlink.

If Ambrosia's butterfly dream was a curse rather than a true poison, then this misfortune with Xiao and Margaret might be an unmatched chance to break a strong enchantment on a person.

Lest put the letter back and headed off to the clinic. Nancy was outside holding her baby daughter Alice and speaking with Bado. "Good afternoon, Lest," Nancy said with a smile. "Come in for a check-up? It's busy in there, so you might want to wait a few hours."

"Actually, I heard about Xiao and Margaret," he said. "Do you happen to know if what they're afflicted by is a curse or a poison?"

"Well," she swayed back and forth while thinking. "It's called a poison, but Jones says it's a curse. We've got Kiel seeing if he can mix up the antidote, otherwise it's a wait and see if it comes apart deal." She frowned. "Awful thing to happen to such sweet girls, but nobody can figure out what to do about Ambrosia."

While he had an idea of what might be done, it was yet another thing waiting on him to get the cast off. "I see. Actually, I came over once I heard because if this is a curse, I might be able to break it. It's just something I don't do often."

Nancy smiled. "It'd be wonderful if you could break it. All right, I'll let you in to try." She turned to get the door.

"Oh, hey Lest," Bado said, snapping his fingers. "I wanted to ask you a few things about that market clean up. But if you're gonna try healing the girls, just drop by my shop when you get some time."

He nodded. "All right, I'll see about it." Then he headed in with Nancy.

"Jones dear?" Nancy called into the patient area. "Lest's here; he thinks he can do something more about this curse."

"Really? Come on back here." Jones came over to meet them before they fully got into the back room. Lest could just about see that Lin Fa had come to see Xiao. "What is it?"

"I have a talent for breaking rune bonds apart," he told them. "It usually happens without me thinking about it and I have to concentrate to not undo simple enchantments if I'm in contact with them. But if this butterfly curse is purely rune based, then I can undo it. I just haven't tried it on another person with anything but weak enchantments or currently casting spells."

The doctor considered that. "Well… I don't entirely like experimenting on patients. This is a natural talent you have?"

"Yes, it reverts the organization of runes to their natural state."

"Sounds like it would be worth a shot, especially since we can't be sure about having the ingredients for the cure we know." Jones glanced over the girls, then waved Lest in. "Try Xiao first because the curse reads weaker in her."

"All right." He went over to the beds and, with Lin Fa's silent approval, took the chair between them. "This works best on physical contact, so I just have to figure which point would work…"

Lest took Xiao's closer hand as that seemed fit for modesty and contact. Both girls were asleep due to other enchantments, likely to keep them from running off and getting hurt. The sleep enchantment instantly unraveled, although Xiao remained asleep for a minute longer. While he could feel the butterfly curse in her mind, it was stronger than the sleep one and more organic in form. It was still foreign to her body, so once his power got hold of it, he should be able to break it. Keeping hold of her hand, he placed his other hand on her forehead.

At that, the butterfly dream curse became as clear as crystal in his mind. It did not belong there. In his thoughts, he took hold of the curse and unraveled it into base runes. It took a few tries, but he managed to feel some loose ends to tug apart like undoing a rope. Once the curse lost its structure, it was easy enough to flush out of Xiao's mind. He checked over her before letting go, but it seemed that was the only foreign rune power in her.

He smiled as he took his hands from her. "All right, that worked well."

"Let me see," Jones said, sitting on the other side of the bed. He started checking over her in his own ways.

Meanwhile, Xiao woke up groggily. "Huh? What'm I…?"

"Xiao, what about the butterflies?" Lin Fa asked, hopeful but worried.

"What about 'em?" she asked, glancing around. "Where'd they go? Oh?" She looked right at Lest.

He was hit by a sensation like a powerful perfume that was so dense it made him want to gag. While he knew on some level that it wasn't there, he covered his mouth and coughed. "Excuse me."

"She seems clear so far," Jones said, pausing as Xiao sat up. "How do you feel?"

"Sleepy but happy," she said, still looking at Lest. Then she reached over and grabbed him in a tight hug. "Yay, Lest is here!"

"It's not butterflies, but are you sure?" Lin Fa asked, torn between finding this funny and finding it worrisome.

"Okay, apparently a side-effect of this is a temporary infatuation," Lest said, then found his chest constricted in her hug. "Ugh, could you… be careful there?"

"Oh my goodness, so sorry," Xiao said, loosening up but not entirely letting him go. She was at the edge of the bed just about in his lap.

As Jones came around the bed to finish his checks, Lest added, "I, uh, my magic aligns with the element of love, so I probably should have guessed this would happen." And this curse, troublesome as it was, was probably simple compared to etherlink. What was going to happen when he did this with the guardians?

"Could you let him go so I can make sure you're okay?" Jones asked, after failing to get a good hold on her arm.

"I don't want to," Xiao said, her mind clouded by the infatuation.

Lin Fa finally chuckled. "Little Xiao, you have to let the doctor check on you. You can't go off with Lest until Jones lets you out of the clinic."

"Really?" she asked, looking at Lest from a foot away.

"Really," Lest said. "We all want to know that you're fine after you ran into Ambrosia."

"Okay," she said, finally letting him go and sitting still for Dr. Jones to finish his observations.

And now he had to work on Margaret. Since he knew what to expect, he took her closest hand and put his other hand on her forehead. The curse had taken root in the same location, but Margaret had a larger amount of runes in her curse. Not only that, but the curse had some affinities that matched runes often found in elves, making some portions of it harder to distinguish from her natural runes. But if he paid attention to how the runes were bonded, the flow of the curse was different from the normal flow of her life. He had to undo it in three portions to make sure he could remove all of the foreign runes. Then he tried to be more careful in flushing them out, so as not to overwhelm Margaret with an infatuation.

That didn't stop her from hugging him too shortly after she came alert. "Hee hee, you're mine now, Lest," she said.

"No fair, I had him first," Xiao said indignantly, making Nancy and Lin Fa giggle.

Margaret and Xiao stared at each other for a minute, then the former smiled airily. "We can share!"

"Okay!" Xiao said cheerfully.

"Ho ho, I bet any young fellow would be jealous of you now," Nancy said in amusement.

"I, well," he wanted to say that he wasn't comfortable with this. He could tell this was temporary and abnormal, hence why it was near suffocating even when they weren't hugging his healing chest. But saying so wouldn't go over with the girls too well now.

"Well Xiao is clear of the butterfly dream," Jones said. "And this side-effect I would guess will only last a few minutes."

"No, I'll love him forever," Xiao claimed.

"Me too!" Margaret said.

Jones smiled. "I suppose the trade-off might not seem different, but as this is temporary rather than possibly permanent, it's much better. Margaret, you'll need to let him go for a little bit."

"Do I have to?" she asked, shifting herself to sit closer to him.

"It's my turn, yes?" Xiao said.

"Let Jones make sure you're fine," Lest said. "And I'd rather not have my ribs cracked again, so be careful."

"Oh, I wouldn't want to hurt you," Xiao said sadly.

"If that's what you want, Lest," Margaret said, reluctantly letting him go and sitting on the edge of the bed further away so there was space.

"If it's going to be a few minutes, I'm going to step outside," Lin Fa said, smiling mischievously. "Don't be too rough on him."

"I'll come with you," Nancy said, as Alice in her arms started to murmur in waking up. She hushed the baby as she went outside as well.

"What were you two doing near Yokmir Forest?" Lest asked, before Xiao could get too close to him.

"Picking flowers," Margaret said.

Xiao nodded. "Right, I wanted to get some flowers to display in the rooms but all the ones just outside the gate were the same ones I got a few days ago. But Yokmir has many unique flowers that should be coming into bloom around now. It's a troublesome place to go alone, but Margaret agreed to go with me."

"It's a really lovely place to take a walk," Margaret said. "Oo, maybe we can go on a date there!"

"Yes, sounds romantic!"

"You should have known that Ambrosia tends to get active on the edges of the forest around this time of year," Jones said.

"I thought it was early for her," Xiao said. "And that you usually saw odd butterflies in time to get out before she arrived. But we got to some nice flowers when the butterflies went whoosh all around us."

"Yeah it was like the most colorful cloud swirling all around," Margaret agreed. "And I got turned into a huge butterfly and started dancing with the most amazing rainbow butterfly I've ever seen."

"That's not what I remember," Xiao said. "The butterflies were going to pick me up and fly me away to see a really amazing place, but then I couldn't fly with them. I tried chasing after them to let them pick me up, but they kept swirling around me in a game and then it turned weird and scary."

"That's classic Ambrosia dreams for you," Jones said.

Hearing that, Lest felt a new measure of respect for Forte in not only fighting off this monster, but then managing to guide both Xiao and Margaret back safely when the other two girls were believing such wild dreams. "It wasn't a dream," Xiao said. "Although I'm not sure how I got in here away from the butterflies, and, um..." she looked at Lest, then turned pink. "W-wait what've I been doing? Momma was just here, wasn't she? Oh, now I'm never going to hear the end of this."

Well that was the end of one infatuation. "Sorry, but we wanted to see you uncursed quickly," Lest said. "I didn't know it would do that to you."

"You both got lucky that Forte found you in time," Jones said. "And that Lest could unravel a curse quickly."

"I guess so," Xiao said, looking down and still blushing. "I still feel weird."

"That should clear up with some rest," Jones said. "Be sure to drink plenty of water . You're free to go now; Margaret, you should stay a bit longer."

"As long as Lest stays, that's fine by me," Margaret said, pleased.

"Okay, thank you," Xiao said, then got off the bed and hurried outside. Now wasn't a good time to talk to her about this, but hopefully later he could explain better that it was a magically induced infatuation and he didn't mean to embarrass her with it.

"Guess I'm sticking around to make sure she stays out of trouble," Lest said, making Margaret laugh.

Jones nodded. "Good, thank you. I don't know if I'd want to call on you for regular curses, but if we run into Ambrosia's victims or other difficult curses, I might ask for your help in the future. The sooner these enchantments get broken, the less time the victim needs to recover."

"Sure thing," he agreed. "I might even be able to lessen this effect in time."

"Hopefully."

"Then you are mine alone now," Margaret said, apparently just realizing that Xiao had given up.

"The doctor's still here with us, so don't get too close," Lest said. Jones chuckled, but he thankfully stuck around as a slight deterrent.

"What're we doing at the clinic together?" Margaret asked, raising an eyebrow and smiling strangely.

"You were a big butterfly and needed to turn back," Jones said, in a serious tone he used for an actual diagnosis.

"Oh right," she said. "And you saved me, right Lest?"

"Technically that was Forte. I just helped heal you." Having an idea of what might occupy her until the infatuation faded, Lest asked, "Hey, would you play a song for me? Just to make sure that you're really okay after this butterfly incident."

Margaret squealed at the question. "You want me to play for you? Of course, it'd love to!" Snapping her fingers to summon her harp by magic, she played what sounded like a cutesy love song. But it took two more songs for her to get her wits back, at which point, she looked at the two of them puzzled. "Hey... since when have I been in love with Lest?"

"It's not love, it's a shallow attraction due to my uncursing technique," Lest said. She wasn't as embarrased as Xiao had been, so it seemed okay to say it.

"I was starting to feel something was funny with my head." She smiled. "Sorry, don't mean to break your heart, but I should be careful and think on it a few days."

"That's fine by me," Lest said, retrieving his crutches so he could stand. "Sorry I had to mess with your head in order to fix the mess in your head from Ambrosia. We wanted to see both you and Xiao better soon."

"I guess you were doing whatever you could," Margaret said. "We'll just have to grin and bear any gossip for a bit."

"I'd like to check on you again since you still sound a little off," Jones said. "Be sure to take things easy for a few days and don't get into anything stressful if you can."

Since he didn't need to be there anymore, Lest said goodbye to them and headed out. He was in the right part of town, so went by Bado's blacksmith shop to see if he was in. In talking to others, Lest found mixed opinions on this dwarf. He was said to be good at sharpening knives for a reasonable price, yet also said to be selling blunt or overpriced weapons. Some said he was a man of great ideas, others said he was a conman who wasn't all that good at being a con. When Lest looked at his runes, he saw that Bado had the talent and skill to forge excellent items. But instead of a spark of creativity, he had a lump of laziness and money love. If this man was going to be an asset to Selphia instead of a load, something had to bring out the creativity spark in him.

"What did you have in mind about the marketplace, Bado?" Lest asked once he was let inside.

Bado was standing by a set of shelves and bins full of materials. Mostly common iron, but there were runes hinting at better metals hidden around. "Well I've been thinking over the plumbing work you want done," he said. "I've done work on the pipes around Selphia years ago. Rough job, you know, hanging over a hundred feet in the air by just a wooden trolley and working to get it right the first time so you don't have to go under there again in a couple days."

"That'd be an obstacle under a third of the town, wouldn't it?" Lest asked.

He nodded. "Right, because of whatever crazy idea made people build over the cliff's edge in the first place. I was thinking, what if you set the fountain to be coin operated? To help cover the work in placing new pipes?" There seemed to be another idea bubbling up in him, but it was conflicting with this coin-operated fountain idea.

While he couldn't tell what that other idea might be, it might be better than the one he was suggesting. Lest replied, "That's what I want to avoid, having people pay for drinks when it's a simple sip of water they want. It'd be a small deterrent to them coming again, when having free drinking water available is a small gesture to bring them back. The little things add up to where people might go out of their way to come here and buy things from the market merchants." Maybe that last idea would help convince Bado.

It certainly made him think. "I guess it might. But if you've got just a simple fountain when you're redecorating everything else, it'll stand out like a sore thumb for simplicity."

"As long as it's available, I think we can deal with that for a little while," Lest said. "Maybe when my budget as prince isn't restrained by what the last prince did, I can request a better looking fountain. Although it would be nice if there was some kind of simple decoration we could put on a simple fountain right now. I'm not a business expert like Arthur, but I know as a customer, I'd prefer being in a place that looked nicer." And not quite as junky or crowded as Bado's shop, but Lest declined to say that for now.

'You're right, people would pay more in a nicer looking place," Bado said. He didn't seem insulted by it might being a statement on his own shop. Thankfully, whatever other idea he had was building up strength. "And you get more tourists in for the main market, they could come by permanent shops like mine more often."

"That's what we're hoping for," he said. "Did you want to work on the fountain plumbing?"

He ran his fingers through his thick beard, his attention starting to drift towards his forge. "I was considering it," he said. "Maybe the fountain itself too. It'd be a lot of work, what with the trolley and building the fountain just right..." the idea of the work made him wobble back towards not doing whatever he had in mind.

As his gut was telling him that he ought to encourage this, Lest tried to make him wobble towards doing it. "Well you put in a lot of work once and the rewards for it will keeping coming back to you. I find it works that way in farming, when you put in a full day of clearing, tilling, and seeding in once and reap the benefits for an entire season or more." There was daily care too, but that didn't need to be mentioned right now.

"I need to figure out my resources on this," Bado said, only half paying attention to Lest now. "But maybe that's right, do this and it'll pay off for a long time. I can't say for sure now, but I might do this."

"Give it some thought and let me know," he said. "And I don't mean to interrupt, but if you're going to start looking into this, could you let me out the door please?"

He smiled. "All right, sorry, that flew out of my mind for a moment. I'll see what can happen."

Then that could be the electrical and plumbing work done by local craftsmen. Meanwhile, he'd gotten notice that several people were starting work on the new canvas covers or other little projects to help on the cleanup. This was going well so far. If only there wasn't all this waiting to be done too.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Selphia is pretty crazy architecture when you think about it, if fitting for being the home of the divine wind dragon. I'm pretty sure the world has electricity due to the various lights around, although I've come up with some pretty crazy magic substitutes in the past. Electrical works well enough, though, and it fits in with a background theme._


	9. Manic Inspiration

**Chapter 9: Manic Inspiration**

Spring 16

For the first time in years, Bado put a particular sign up on his door: 'Shop Closed: At Work On Large Project'. He'd taken several days to hurry across the Selphia region to mine and gather various resources. Some things he had to dig out old journals of his to figure out where they had come from in the first place. As it had been so long since he'd gone to such lengths, the effort wore him out. But his soul was demanding this work, making him press on.

Smoke billowed out his chimney in a powerful stream, rather than the lazy trickles it usually put out. The forge glowed vibrantly in being pushed out of a long slumber to work with minerals it hadn't seen for so long. One hour, he might be pounding out a piece of metal into the right shape. The next hour, he might be doing some small careful work on a heated tiny piece. He'd dug out his best tools, put away because his usual simple projects didn't need them. This wasn't simple stuff made for a quick sale that anybody who could hold a hammer and tongs could do. This was the kind of crafting dwarves were famous for.

Why was he doing this? If the question popped into his mind, he quickly dismissed it. The 'why' of it didn't matter now. What mattered was the work. It had been too long since he felt this way, so he wasn't going to disrupt it by trying to analyze it.

This work mattered and he was going to put everything he had into it.

* * *

><p>Spring 18<p>

It was not his habit to be inactive; Lest went around town on his crutches every day, but even that didn't feel like enough. He had to watch where he was going and avoid flights of stairs. He had to keep a slow pace and avoid kneeling or bending over. While the people here were considerate of his condition, waiting on him and clearing obstacles like doors, it was making him feel helpless to depend on such help. But he had another five weeks of this at least. Sometimes he regretted coming in as he had. The other choices he had at the time weren't much better: waiting until NACC cleared travel in Selphia to private unarmed vessels (they were just now considering it), staying with the airship in a fiery crash, maybe hitting his head and getting amnesia so that he had no idea what he was supposed to be doing. Actually, that last one didn't sound that bad as his sister would surely have rushed over here if she got word of it (or heard no word at all from him). She could've handled things, or at least re-instruct him on what to do.

The flowers he had in a pot helped a little, not enough. He kept thinking about how nice a whole field of cherry grass and daffodils would look around now. Besides, it didn't take long to care for them. Lest would check their water and nutrient needs, then give them a short song of life while addressing any lacks. Without the need to check for weeds and bugs, this took at most ten minutes if he really stretched it. He occasionally looked over the vines and leafy plants that decorated the castle halls, but Volkanon and the others took good care of those.

"This really is going to drive me crazy," Lest muttered as he stood be one of the planters in the royal hall. He had some work waiting for him back in his office, but didn't feel ready to sit back down again. Instead, he headed out to the farms to check out the outer fields.

The western fields were a mess of weeds and stones, along with a huge tree that had fallen over in the southwest field. These two would be tough to clear as he'd need to be back at full strength in order to handle chopping the tree up and breaking the rocks down. Especially with those old tools in the shed. Thinking of how much effort that would waste just in the poor gear, Lest decided it might be best not to mess with these two fields until he got the money to buy better tools. The northeastern field was not as bad. In fact, it was full of native herbs and grasses, all of which would be harvested for many uses. If the right ones were here in sufficient quantities, he could easily dry them and sell as teas or herb blends, giving him the money for better crops to invest into better tools.

The southeast field was different in that it was currently an orchard. While one tree was dead and needed to be taken down, the rest were still alive and possibly capable of producing this year. Maybe even this season. They were given plenty of space in neat rows, twenty-four living trees in all. In singing to them, he noticed there were apples, grapes, oranges, peaches, a cherry, a pear, a walnut, a chestnut, an almond, and one that wasn't a fruit or nut tree. Lest wasn't sure what it was exactly, as he'd never heard from one before. But its runes had a definite magical tone, far more than the rest.

In the runes around him, he noticed that some people were coming into the field. He left off his song to turn around, finding that Clorica had come looking for him. Xiao and Kiel were there too, curious and worried. "Prince Lest, you're not supposed to be doing work out here yet," Clorica complained.

He couldn't help a moment of irritation at being stopped, but quickly countered it with the thought that she was concerned about his health. "I know," he said. "It's just like torture to be unable to do anything that I want to do, or what should be simple things."

"Not pleasant at all," Xiao said knowingly. "I know, from several times of getting hurt badly and waiting long days to get better. Momma has to take care of all the hard work then and I feel bad for not helping. But you have to kept rest and wait to get better."

"Guess I just need to find something else that will keep my mind occupied for that long," Lest said, although the call of the runes was tugging at his heart.

"There's always those books Arthur wants you to study," Clorica suggested.

He made a reluctant face at that. "Right, those. Those writers all expect their readers to have Arthur's kind of education; I can hardly follow what they're saying because they keep making references and using words I don't know."

"I might be able to help you find sources for references if that helps," Kiel said. "There's a literary canon that nobility considers essential reading. We could pick out some easier ones first."

"That could help," he said, shifting a crutch so he could rub his head. "Sorry, there's just something that bugs me in this field, a tree I can't identify. Those runes are different."

"Which tree is it?" Clorica asked. "Although, it'd be better to ask Vishnal or Volkanon. They should know what's growing around here."

"There's a dead one and a sapling here," Lest said, heading for the tree before she could think to protest his going further into the field. Finding them near the center of the field, the dead one had long lost its leaves and was rotting. There was a rusting dagger stuck in it about three feet off the ground. Just a foot away from the dead one, there was a thin sapling that was trying to put out leaf buds.

"Did someone kill the tree with this?" Xiao asked, taking the dagger and pulling on it.

"Careful," Clorica said.

"I don't think so," Lest said, checking the runes. "No... if the presence of the dagger and rust had killed it, there'd be an infection. I can tell the tree is magical in nature. More likely, the lack of care of the rest made them send out stressed runes. This tree absorbed the stress and died from it. But that would be why the other trees still live; they should be dead too."

"That's sad," Xiao said. She succeeded in pulling the dagger out, albiet stumbling backwards when she did. Although rusted from where it had been exposed, the rest of the dagger seemed oddly shiny, with a black glimmer.

That got Kiel's notice as he helped her up. "Oh wait, let me see that," he said, reaching for the dagger. She nodded and passed the handle to him. After looking over the dagger and making a simple spark spell against it (the dagger let off really strange runes in response), Kiel then checked the tree and used the good part of the dagger to pry off some rotted wood.

"I can lend you a better knife, one that won't break on the blade," Clorica said, taking out her pocketknife.

"No, this is rotted enough that it shouldn't matter," Kiel said, then brightened as he spotted a black sparkle. "Ah-ha, that's it." He pulled out a length of black amber, shaped like a stretched out drop of syrup. When the sunlight hit it, the material sparkled like glitter.

"That's pretty, but what is it?" Xiao asked.

"Glitter augite," Kiel explained, making sure they could all see it. "It's a really special mineral that can influence chi, the flow of ether and runes. Depending on how it's developed, you can focus chi to give a weapon an extra invisible reach or extend protection runes over a larger area. You could also use this to make accessories that let a regular person can see runes and chi, since that's two separate skills that can be difficult to learn. It can only be produced as a soft amber from one specific kind of tree, meaning that this is a twinkle tree."

"I haven't heard of that kind of tree before," Lest said. "Then it's specific to the Selphia area?"

"I believe so," Kiel said. "There's all kinds of local folklore about the magical powers of old twinkle trees. According to them, a young twinkle tree that's full grown can produce glitter augite amber and twinkling leaves useful in alchemy. But it also is made up of a high quality magical wood that makes powerful staffs and magical artifacts. It may be tempting to cut one down once it is full grown, but the magical power only increases as it grows old. And when it's really old and tall, it's rumored to be able to leave gifts to those who care for and respect it, like rare seeds, the augite, and other magical materials."

"That sounds interesting," Lest said, looking down at the sapling. Its runes were begging for a chance to get that old. Not a hope as humans felt it, but a hope that non-thinking plants felt as the natural desire of life to thrive. He wanted to help it, but it would have to wait too. Unless there was something he could do right now. The dead tree's runes seemed to be suggesting something to him.

"How old do you mean?" Xiao asked.

"I don't remember right off," Kiel said, checking the dagger again. "I'd have to look up a few books to figure that out. Maybe I'll ask Bado about this too, because the good part of the blade seems part enchanted from being stuck in the tree."

"You really think he can handle enchanted weapons?" Xiao asked, frowning at the thought.

He nodded. "I know he can. It's just, you have to convince him that it's interesting or profitable enough to work on. And it looks unusual, to me anyhow, so he might know more about it."

"You want to go see what Bado has to say?" Clorica asked, noticing that Lest was still looking at the sapling and only part hearing what they were saying. She would want to distract him.

"I don't know if that's a good idea right now," Kiel said. "Bado's in a peculiar mood."

Lest couldn't help his inattention, as these runes were being so persistent. "I want to see if I can work a miracle," he replied.

"That sounds like something that would take an awful lot of power," Clorica said. "You probably shouldn't."

"Are the runes speaking about it?" Kiel asked, interested and likely easy to convince.

"Yeah, and the conditions seem good," Lest said. "I just haven't been able to pull off one successfully."

"I thought miracles were things gods did," Xiao said.

Fortunately, Kiel knew enough to explain with Lest was still trying to read everything and see if he could do this. "Yes, but certain people can call on a powerful arrangement of runes to create a miracle, including earthmates and dwarves. The things that happen can't be predicted or replicated, but they also are dependent on the moment and just the right circumstances, maybe even influence of gods or other higher spirits. Even those who have the right kind of powers to create a miracle might never get a chance at another if they deny the first calling of the runes."

"Then it's that time or no other," Xiao said. "But it would be hard, yes?"

"Yes." Kiel shrugged. "I've read that earthmates create miracles through song, also that you become an earthmate either through being born as one or creating a miracle. Mostly likely he'll just sing something and not get an effect. But if it is a calling of inspiration, then the runes and whatever spirit guides him can do something about the energy needed. That's why I said it might not be a good idea to talk to Bado right now. He got hit by this kind of thing; I couldn't even get his attention today."

Then another voice called in from behind them, as Doug had made his way into the field over the stream and past the trees. "Are you talking about a thalnar?"

"With Bado, yes," Kiel said. "Lest's an earthmate, so they have a different word for it."

"_Manic inspiration,"_ Lest said, using what were considered holy words.

"But he's still recovering from his fall so we're not sure if this should be stopped," Clorica said.

Doug came over and looked at the dead tree. There was some kind of connection there Lest barely saw, but the only thing that mattered to him was that it might help the miracle happen to have Doug there, for some reason. After a look at Lest, he stepped back. "Well, he's got that look in his eyes. We'd have a difficult time stopping this from happening. Don't know about earthmates, but dwarves can end up really depressed if denied a chance to try. Just help him get what he needs and see what crazy stuff happens."

"I guess," Clorica said, reluctant but she'd rather not see him get depressed.

"Give me the dagger and take a few steps away," Lest said, things clicking improbably in his mind but there was a certainty that he was right. The dagger rightfully belonged to Doug. Since it had been in the old tree for nine weeks, this was going to work out because he was here. Just to convince Clorica not to stop him? Or maybe other reasons. It was just important to use that connection now.

Once he knew the others were at a safe range away, mostly by his sense for runes as it was overpowering his other senses, Lest began to sing the song of miracles. It was properly known as The Earthmate's Pledge, a sung oath to the earth promising one's gratitude, loyalty, and love to the world in exchange for the blessings received. It was one of the first songs he'd learned by heart, one his instructors had used many times to pass on basic lessons. Yet, if they kept the song close to their hearts too, they shouldn't have strayed from their own oaths.

The dagger had taken on what little power the dead Twinkle Tree had. Lest began manipulating the runes and bonds of the trees in this field. As he'd thought, the stress from the other trees lacking care had killed this one. More needed to be done, but with the right enchantments, he could bring the living trees back to a healthy strength using the dagger's spirit to cut away sickly portions before replacing them with good runes. He could also dissolve the dead twinkle tree into sawdust and fragments of glitter augite, setting them into the ground to enrich the spot for the young tree. Once that was done, he was able to channel a lot of power into the twinkle tree sapling.

A lot of power. Now that he was connected like this, he felt what seemed to be a well of runes below the castle. They were stuck there, stagnating like water with no outlet to run to. Ventuswill was doing what she could to keep the ether flowing here, but she didn't seem to be strong enough to pull out the stagnant runes. Or, was there something keeping her from reaching them? There was something there, a kind of spirit but one that had an amorphous form.

Lest's rune breaking power soon hit the stagnant runes, breaking them up and turning them active. Returning to the ether sea through the young twinkle tree, it grew with incredible speed. Once he got it to a certain stage, he could guide the freed runes up through the other trees too, restoring their health. But the lurking spirit reacted, following the newly freed runes out to face him. It had the feeling of hate, causing cold prickles on Lest's skin. Thankfully it was a very old hate, weakened by the lack of a mind and body. He threw the dagger out and broke apart the first manifestation of the hate spirit. At that, Ventuswill noticed and came out to help. She must know more, but Lest's mind was still caught up in the miracle's power.

Two more hate spirits appeared. After he took care of one with the returned dagger, Ventuswill tore apart the other with a small cyclone. She also clamped down on any other parts of the hate spirit trying to emerge, restraining them with all her might. Lest started to think it might be safe to let go of the miracle energy, but then a sharper hate pierced through his mind and heart. Unlike the other, this one was fresh and connected to an unhealed emotional pain. Someone there in the field hated Ventuswill in a powerful way.

Crying out at the pain, Lest hit the ground and his concentration from the miracle broke. Clorica was soon by his side checking on him. And then Ventuswill collapsed. Lest was getting afraid about this incident, but the one holding onto hatred was still nearby, still attacking him unwittingly. He blacked out.

* * *

><p>Clorica didn't like emergency situations. She was pretty sure no one did, but when things went bad fast, she found it hard to keep up. When something went wrong with her masters, she should act and think quickly to bring them out of danger. Acting and thinking quickly were not things she did easily. Everything should have a plan was her belief. If it was a danger she'd prepared for, like choking or drowning, she did have a plan for those and could react. But dangers she hadn't even thought of, like a hate spirit causing Lest to fall unconscious from floating in the air, she found herself uncertain of what to do aside from send Xiao after the doctor.<p>

Kiel was trying to assess Lest's condition, but he wasn't fully trained. "It doesn't look like it's because he ran out of energy. But since it was a ghost here, it might be something on a mental or spiritual level."

"Was that really a ghost?" Doug asked, pacing around in some anxiety.

Kiel shrugged. "Not one I recognize, but it seemed like one."

Nearby, Ventuswill lifted her head up from where she had fallen on the path beside the farm. Volkanon and Vishnal were trying to help her. "Sorry, I was trying to do too much from outside the castle," she said to them. "But I had to do something when I felt Storgane's curse stirring."

"Can't argue with that, but what was the prince doing messing with that old magic?" Volkanon asked, suspicious but concerned. It was a tone Clorica knew well. If this wasn't an accident, then the instigator was going to get a harsh lecture.

"I don't think he meant to cause trouble," Clorica said in his defense. "He said he wanted to make a miracle. I was trying to talk him out of it, but then Kiel and Doug said that it was better to let him try."

"Right, all the factors have to be right and there's no controlling its thoughts once the person is in its grip," Kiel said.

"What did he do?" Ventuswill asked, although the results were obvious.

"Well first he turned the old dead tree right back to dirt," Clorica said, pointing to the central tree. "Then he raised up a sapling into this large twinkle tree in a couple of minutes. And the whole while, he started floating off the ground and his rune lines were glowing bright gold. Then the crutches got thrown away along with his cast. That's about when the hate spirits showed up. Lest killed the first two, but then he screamed and fainted."

"Those spirits you saw were fragments of an old decaying curse in the area," Ventuswill said. "The fragments are tough to beat, but since Lest was under …, the miracle's influence, he would have no trouble with them. That's not the case for the main portion of the curse. I've been trying to slowly undo it for many lifetimes; the hate it contains would do more than just knock him out."

"What should we do for him now?" Volkanon asked.

She paused to catch her breath, then said, "Wait until the doctor comes; his old wounds seem to be gone, but he should be checked. After that, take him to his bedroom and leave him be in quiet. The defensive wards in the walls will keep him safe and help him recover. When you do check on him, make sure to keep positive but calm so the spiritual wound isn't irritated."

"If he needs quiet, I might as well head on out," Kiel said, taking the dagger from Lest's hand. "I'll take this by Bado later on and see what he thinks of it."

"Right, you guys make sure he's okay," Doug said, then headed back the way he'd come.

"These trees all look a lot healthier than they were," Vishnal said.

"That would have to be part of the miracle to bring this new twinkle tree up," Ventuswill said. "The poor health of the others killed the old one."

"That's what Lest thought," Clorica said.

After some rest, Ventuswill was able to walk back to her usual place for a more solid sleep. Clorica and Volkanon waited out with Lest until Jones came. The doctor was initially disappointed to hear that Lest had been working with powerful magic in spite of his condition. But once they explained the nature of it, he agreed that there wasn't much they could have done to stop him. Ventuswill had been right too: Lest's previously weak and broken bones were now all healed back up, to a strength that should have taken him another ten weeks to get back to. He would still need to take it easy for a few days to make sure there were no hidden problems, but it seemed some rest to recover from the attack of hate would be enough to return Lest to how he should be.

It had been a troubling worry, but Clorica started to feel an awe that she'd managed to witness an earthmate's miracle.

* * *

><p>Spring 19<p>

The restaurant was running low on honey, oats, chocolate, and other things. Most were normal, although the honey supply was suspiciously low after seeming just fine when she'd last checked. Margaret usually felt annoyed when sudden drops in the pantry showed up like that. Porcoline tended to go through ingredients fast, in part because he seemed to eat nearly as much as he served. On some days, he got hooked on a particular food and anything related to it would drop in the inventory fast. This kind of behavior made it tough to keep the restaurant's budget making a profit.

But today, she was in a good mood. Not even having to send out a rush order to restock the honey was going to break it. And it was mostly because of Lest.

It had taken some time for the infatuation to wear off completely even if she had gotten through a good portion of it in asking to think on things for a few days. But once she got to see him with a clear mind again, she had to admit that she still liked him. He was calm but smiled easily. While short for a human man, he had a strong build from being a farmer. He wasn't good with numbers or information outside his interests, but he did have a way with people and was good as a cook.

And his voice! Even she hadn't picked up anything special at first, but then she heard him singing in the royal farm early this morning, at a time when normally she'd be the only person out and about. It had a rustic quality of someone who sang mostly folk songs and simple hymns, unpolished but with a brilliance. He hadn't been singing in a language she understood, but the music itself hinted at its meaning. The song was not for the singer or any mortal listeners, but for the earth and the ground he was preparing. Since she didn't go past the trees in trying to find the song, he had no idea he had another audience.

While humming the song he'd been singing, Margaret wondered if her feelings weren't still influenced by the love runes he used. He likely meant nothing more than to heal her, perhaps even as his duty in being the prince. Xiao had accepted that and now was mostly concerned about not being embarrassed when her mother brought it up. But on Margaret's end, she still saw a bit of the glow around him that she'd seen on waking up in the clinic. He was cute and if his love magic could make her feel like this when it was meant in a strictly platonic fashion, what would it be like to actually have him in love?

"Oh, let's not think on silly things," she said to herself, grinning like a fool. She didn't know him that well, which was bound to lead into disappointment if she tried to pursue those thoughts. Plus, he was human and she'd already lived longer than he might. It was a sad fact she'd encountered before, although not really in love.

"Meg!" Porcoline's voice filled the kitchen and pantry room trying to find her.

"He couldn't have heard," she said quietly, then called back, "Coming!" On entering the kitchen, she held her clipboard up. "I was getting ready to send out the stocking orders."

"Oh good, I think we need to check on the honey and curry powder," Porco said, working on something that had a heavy hand on the latter. "But first, would you take that udon over to Bado? He sent over an incomplete request note and apparently he's shut himself in to work in the forge for the past week."

"Really?" Margaret asked, after a blink of disbelief. "Lazy bones Bado is crazy at work?"

Porcoline nodded. "Shocking, isn't it? The note didn't say anything, just that he wanted lunch, so I made a triple helping of the udon and a small cheesecake that he likes. Such hard work out of him ought to be rewarded like that."

For even more shock, Margaret noticed that his lunch offerings for Bado were exactly what he said instead of Porcoline taking a serving for his own cut. Or since he seemed to be making more of the udon, he simply was going to take bites from the rest. "Right, good thinking," she said, picking up the lunch delivery box. "Now if only he keeps this up so we can brush away the reputation of having a bad blacksmith."

"We can hope," Porcoline said, then went back to singing during his work.

It was early for lunch deliveries, but Margaret went ahead and headed over to the blacksmith's shop. Normally the building looked like any other inhabited place, with evidence of the inhabitant seen through windows and some smoke from a chimney in cooler weather like this. Not so much today, as dark gray smoke curled heavily while leaving Bado's furnace chimney. Now that she was thinking of it, that had been there for a few days, hadn't it? A sign he was actually working, but what was he working on and why?

She had to knock four times to get his attention, even pound on the door the last time to make herself heard. When he came out, there was grease, sweat, and smoke particles coating his hands and face. "Can't talk long, what is it?" he asked quickly.

"Lunch delivery!" she said, holding the basket towards him. "You didn't put what you want, so Porco made you udon."

Bado seemed confused. "When did I order this?"

"Just now," she said.

His eyebrows furrowed, then he nodded. "Oh, that must have been Lest. He visited a little while ago. I think, about the fountain. Now that you mention it, I am hungry, thanks." He took the basket and handed her a group of coins. "Don't care about the change, keep it for the delivery. I've got to get back to work."

"Working on what?" Margaret asked, wrinkling her nose. "Something smells odd."

"Glass-blowing. Try not to interrupt this again." He then shut the door.

This was like a completely different Bado, she thought. What did glass-blowing have to do with a fountain? She also wasn't sure how much better this was. After all, the usual Bado might be a lazy cheat, but he always had time for a chat or joke (or a sales pitch). He wouldn't forget to eat, or brush potential customers away without a good explanation. Now if only he could find some medium place there to stick to, he could be better.

Well, he also wouldn't overpay for a lunch delivery, Margaret thought. Although since Porco had tripled the main dish size, it evened out. She walked back slowly while thinking of if she could get a sneak peek at whatever Bado was doing at another time. Before she got to the restaurant, she spotted Lest walking around town too. He was no longer on crutches, although his stride was uneven as he was getting used to being without a cast again.

Margaret grinned and waved to him. "Lest! I can't decide if you're a miracle worker or a slave driver!"

"Why would I be a slave driver?" he asked, waving back.

"Because you got Bado to work so hard he forgot to get lunch," she replied, hurrying the last few feet so they were at a good distance to talk. "He never does that."

He chuckled. "Well I didn't make him do that. He had the idea and wanted to do it, but wasn't sure because of the work involved. I just nudged him into going for it."

"That's still pretty amazing," Margaret said with a smile. "Although I'm still thinking over what my answer is for you."

"And I'm wondering what my question was," he replied, raising his eyebrows.

She laughed at him. "In that case, I might decide to decide on it later."

"Okay, as long as a decision is made," Lest said, smiling at the joke.

"But anyhow, you seem cheerful at being back on your feet," she said.

That made him grin. "Yeah, but it's more the thought that I'm headed off to buy some seeds to get started today. Volkanon wants me to take it easy, but I feel like a kid anticipating a present right now. I've got great fields to work with and can't wait to see plants growing there."

"Well you should probably take a break too," Margaret teased him. "I know you've been up since the crack of dawn working today. You don't want to wreck your knee for good by overworking it so soon."

"I just took a break and I am keeping a slower pace than normal," Lest said, defensive but not getting angry about it. "I would've already had the seeds in the ground and watered otherwise."

"I'm just worried if you got too enthusiastic about starting that you made yourself incapable of farming again," she said. His passion for it was all too obvious, even though he'd only grown a few flowers since he'd come here. But those flowers were clearly loved, vibrant in color and scent.

"Right, that would be awful," he said. "You feeling good now?"

"Yup!" she said, feeling a little buzz of happiness that he'd ask. "Though I'm worried about Xiao Pai. I talked with her this morning and she said that she's been seeing some nightmares with the butterflies. Sometimes I still dream of flying on my own wings, but I don't remember much and I don't think they were nightmares. But that might keep happening for weeks; I've seen it in other victims."

He got worried on hearing that. "I see. Maybe I'll ask her about the dreams she's been having, if she's comfortable telling me. I'm interested in this Ambrosia monster, especially since the rune spheres might have fallen into Yokmir Forest when they got scattered."

That wasn't good either. "Don't mess with it! A lot of people have died because of the dreams they can't tell from reality. Even Forte has trouble fending it off and she's been fighting monsters since she was a little girl."

"I'll be careful, but I'm no slouch when it comes to dealing with monsters either," Lest said. "Though I'll probably ask her or someone else to come along when I go looking for that rune sphere."

* * *

><p><em>AN: This chapter's kind of special to me, mostly because manic inspiration describes my way of writing all too well. Though I'm not nearly as grouchy when it comes to being interrupted. But the chapter also means that there's not much more stalling until Lest gets to leave town._


	10. Betrayal's Brink

**Chapter 10: Betrayal's Brink**

Spring 20

Doug checked over his equipment one last time. It wouldn't do to get on the work trolley and find that he'd forgotten something. Since everything seemed to be in place, he shut the tool box and picked it up, along with a supply box for all the materials he needed. The marketplace clean-up was about to begun and no one would think twice of him being around vital supports to the town on the cliff's edge.

With the tools clattering around in their metal container, Doug didn't bother trying to walk down the old stairs of the general store quietly. Blossom was already downstairs, sitting at her usual rocking chair by the register and piecing together one of the canvas booth covers. "Granny, I'm off to hang for the day."

She gave a delighted smile at his joke. "All right, but don't be coming back as a shambling undead creature."

"How about if I was shuffling instead?" he added, laughing a little once she did. "Don't be working too hard here on your own."

"I probably should be saying that to you instead," Blossom said. "Oh, and I put together some lunch for you over here, in case you want to keep working."

He set his boxes down to come get the lunch pail she'd made. And to give her a hug. "Thanks, I'll be looking forward to it." Unless she'd packed a roll in there. She was always making bread of some kind and while she sold most of the loaves, there were always pieces around their home upstairs. As much as he didn't like bread, he didn't have the heart to tell her so when she kept giving these kind gestures.

"Don't be under there too late, and be careful," she said, patting his back.

After putting the pail in the material box, he took both boxes and headed out to the nearest maintenance trolley. The first time he'd come into this part of town, it had been unnerving to walk along the wooden panels lining the streets. A glance down would show just how high they were from the airfield nearby. It didn't bother him now, but he'd already found that the trolley wasn't a great place to work due to hanging over the drop. At least they had winches that would let him pull the trolley closer to the ceiling where he needed to do his work.

But when he got to the trolley station, Bado was already there, packing his own tool box and a huge bag that seemed to be filled with pipes. Doug and Volkanon had managed to comfortably move around to examine the old generator, but with Doug, Bado, and all their equipment? That was going to be too much. "Hey man, you working on this too?"

"Shut the water off to L-10 after redirecting the supply to Saint Coquille Manor so as not to disrupt them," Bado muttered, hardly noticing Doug there. He had an intense focus in his eyes although he didn't seem to be looking at anything in particular.

"Okay, I'll just find the other trolley," Doug said, stepping away to head for the other trolley station. Bado was still under the grip of thelnar, something that often happened to dwarves. Some idea would drive them to work ceaselessly until they created whatever inspiration had gripped them. And no matter what beliefs the particular dwarf followed, it was never a good idea to bother one under such mania. Doug had never been hit by one himself, but he was instantly curious about what Bado was being driven to create. Such items were nearly always considered priceless treasures immediately.

In a way, he was jealous of him, and Lest. Coming under that mania of inspiration was often the highlight of a dwarf's life, an event that had as much prestige as marriage or being granted a title of honor. Some would claim that one could never truly be a great dwarf unless they knew the feeling of thelnar. However, that inspiration was always tied to the crafting trades. Something was always produced. But Doug had never been any good at crafting with the closest being his electrical work. He'd probably never be struck by thelnar and he sometimes wondered if it made him even less of a dwarf because of it.

The other trolley was parked at the stairway near the inn, meaning he had to trek all the way across town to get there. Then again, he didn't have to steer the trolley as far to get to under the marketplace. The generator he was working on was a wind-based model, gathering energy from turbines here underneath the cliff and small windmills along the town walls. As the winds were always blowing, it was a reliable system. Even so, someone had gone ahead and built a geothermal plant at the Delirium Lava Caves. Selphia shouldn't ever have a problem with electrical power with that powerful combo.

In spite of what he'd told Lest, he'd known on seeing the diagram that they didn't need to replace this generator fully. It was built to last and all he had to do was make some common adjustments and update a few parts. Most of Doug's work today was going to be drilling holes, then laying and replacing wires so he could hook up new outlets and lights overhead. His stated job was simple.

But for the job that he was keeping silent on, that wasn't so simple. Once he had the wiring done, he looked around to find that Bado was busily hooking up water pipes to the location of the new drinking fountain. He wouldn't notice. Doug sat down in his trolley and opened his material box to pull out parts to put together a bomb. Even with both power plants on lower output due to spring weather, it could go unnoticed for a few days that an extra machine was drawing energy from this generator. He could install this to the main support beam holding up the generator and the marketplace, and then a second hidden above ground within the tree and moat fence around the royal farms. Either blast would destroy a good chunk of the town of Selphia; both together might nearly wipe it out.

There was the question of if it would be enough to take out Ventuswill. She was a divine dragon, as much as she didn't deserve the honor of being so. Even if it didn't, it would weaken her greatly to the point where it would not be tough to finish her off. And that might be the best way to get his revenge, rip her town away too before killing her. All he had to do was set this up, then wait for a day when nearly everyone in town would be in the marketplace.

Then again, everyone in town meant Blossom too. She couldn't do much in her old age, but she already planned on being there when everyone was working on the market together. If she happened to be on this deck when the bomb went off, it'd be certain that she'd fall to her death if the explosion didn't kill her first. The thought of it made his stomach churn.

But he shouldn't care. She was one of Ventuswill's supporters and thus he should hate her too. Doug only started calling her Granny to get her trust, as well as a job to blend in with and a place to stay. He had tolerated her love of bread because people would trust someone kind to their elders. At some point though, he began to feel some affection for her like a grandson would. She really was sweet and her bits of mischief were amusing enough to be endearing. She was also sickly, probably in her last years at this point. While that was another reason not to care, Doug found himself caring more after he'd helped nursed her back to normal in a fight with a cold last summer. Blossom didn't seem to have family in Selphia anymore. He didn't have family either, but not because they had forgotten about him in their lives.

A gust of wind sent a chill up his spine. The trolley swayed but he'd seen enough of its structure to know it was unlikely to fail. Looking down at the bomb that only needed to be hooked up to a power source to be detonated, he found himself wondering if he should do it. Could he live with himself if this killed Blossom? Or even if she survived but it killed off all the neighbors and friends she loved? If something like that happened, she might lose heart and die in sadness, never knowing that the one who caused it was someone she trusted. Even loved, like a grandson?

But he needed to kill Ventuswill.

It just wasn't worth paying for with Blossom's life.

With a sigh, Doug made sure that the bomb was less likely to go off, then put it back in his material box so he could head to the top of the platform to install the new outlets. He had a brief thought to just chuck it over the trolley's side, but that might cause a blast and an investigation would show that only he and Bado had been down here. And Bado had the excuse of mania to avoid questions about bomb parts. Doug had nothing to excuse that.

All the electrical work took up Doug's entire day, so he was able to check light coverage on the market deck at the end of it. The booths had already been pulled out onto North Street in preparation of the refinishing tasks in the coming days, but there did not seem to be any dark corners or spots now. Bado had some pipework showing above the deck's floor; neither he nor his fountain was anywhere to be seen at the moment. As Doug was shutting off most of the lights so as not to interfere with anyone's sleep, the prince came over to him. "Good work on the lights," Lest said. "Anything else you need to do left?"

He was just being polite, Doug thought. Lest didn't know enough about lighting and electricity to actually know if it was a good job or not at this point. "Nope, we're good for another five years. And then it'll just be checking some wires and a few replacements. I set up the premium spots with six outlet slots, while regular spots have four slots. It's a bit high, but I think electrical devices are going to keep picking up steam."

"And the power network can handle that?" he asked.

"Yup, shouldn't be a big burden," Doug said. "We should be good for power unless there's a huge boom in residents and devices."

"That's good." Then Lest looked at him, some worry on his face. "Are you doing all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, wondering why the prince was suddenly interested. Did he suspect him? Doug didn't know much about earthmates, but he knew many people revered them. Lest didn't seem that special, although sometimes he was uncannily keen on things in spite of a rural education.

"If you say so," he said, but he suspected something. What? "Don't be reluctant to speak up if you need any help. I'd be happy to give anybody here assistance, or I'm sure Granny Blossom would be glad to listen. She adores you like her own grandchild."

"You don't need to tell me that," Doug said. She'd packed him a delicious lunch today with onigiri, so maybe she was picking up on his tastes finally.

After shaking off Lest (why was he so nosy?), Doug headed back to the general store. Blossom greeted him warmly and had supper hot and ready for him. It was meatloaf and mashed potatoes with some early spring greens for a salad, a meal he was happy to share with her. And yet... also a meal that his mother had favored. It had been one she made for him for lunch before a trek to the traditional dwarven town in order to exchange goods with them. He'd made the trek many times before, every time tolerating the traditionalists' tunnel vision on what dwarves should be for the sake of his town's traders; they depended on him and others willing to act as contacts. But that one time, he returned home to find the trader's fort smashed apart, as if the wind itself had gained weight and crushed it in an instant. It was all Ventuswill's doing.

He got startled when Blossom gripped his arm. "Is something wrong, Doug? You have such a sad look on your face."

"It's..." nothing? It was nothing that he'd nearly destroyed her life today, except he'd chickened out? It was nothing that his life had been crushed to pieces while he'd been away? That he'd hurt this sweet but frail lady for any reason, even as a bystander to destroying the one he hated most? Doug shivered and looked down at his lap.

"You can tell me anything, dear," she said. "I won't tell a soul if you don't want to."

She sounded like she couldn't imagine him doing her any harm. "I..." he rubbed a tear from his eye, but it seemed that wouldn't be enough. "I should... visit home for a bit and, um, take care of my family's graves."

"Of course, they'd appreciate that," she said. Which set him off into crying, but at least this time, he wasn't alone.

* * *

><p>"That was a close call," Ventuswill said softly to her quiet room. "Doug... where does your hate and pain spring from?"<p>

"Lady Ventuswill?"

Startled, she opened her eyes wider and noticed Vishnal was standing there puzzled. "It's nothing!" she insisted. "Just listening to things on the wind. Although," she looked down at him wondering. This would be a difficult thing to ask of him. But then, he might be the only one she could ask.

"What is it?" he asked when she hesitated on saying it.

She leaned down to speak quieter. "It's mostly a hunch, but I've been concerned about Doug lately."

"What about him?" he asked, quickly becoming concerned himself.

"I can't really tell you," Ventuswill said. "Sorry, but it's something that would be best if Doug would tell you himself. You're one of his rare friends, you and Kiel. I can tell you this: everyone has their secrets and many people will go to great lengths to avoid them being found. Even so, a painful secret might never heal and in time, the person may become so lost and hurt that they no longer know what to do. They need someone else to know, be it a friend, family member, or lover. It is a hard thing and I'm not certain if he's even near that point. You'll need to be discrete about it, but if you continue being his friend and keep his trust, there might come a time soon when you'll need to be there for him and help him find his way."

Fortunately, he took the advice seriously. "I see... I'll do my best, although it sounds like a difficult thing."

She smiled. "At least you can tell it's so. Thank you Vishnal. You're the best one I could trust to this."

"I don't know, Lest seems like he'd be really good at dealing with people in trouble," Vishnal said.

"It might not hurt to ask him for advice, but I'm afraid we can't involve him in trying to help Doug yet," she said. "I don't want to say why entirely. If Lest could get as much trust from him as you have, then maybe."

That should do it, a few nudges to get people to help each other. Hopefully it would end up helping all the people involved. It could be good for them all. It could also go terribly wrong... no, she had to have faith in them. Mortals were entirely capable of solving most of their problems on their own. While she cared greatly for them, this was for the best. She'd step in if she absolutely had to.

* * *

><p>Spring 21<p>

Hate. It was a crushing oppressive emotion, narrowing the mind and blinding one's judgment. At one time, Lest had felt hate. It had lasted several long weeks, a poisonous fire in his chest that warped his reason. But it was a poison, causing him to feel sick and paranoid. When he finally let it go, he swore to himself that he'd never hate again. Love opened up the mind and healed the heart, bringing others closer and healing them too. That was his element and he'd realized that if he had continued to hold that hate, it would have truly killed him in tearing his runes apart.

However, hate still hurt him even if it was not his own. When someone else near him was filled with hate, he felt that venom as sharp spikes in his skin, clamping on and not wanting to let go. Hate came in various forms just like love, but he knew its venom all the same. Sometimes it was just an unnerving itch, when someone had a good reason to feel hate but was open to letting it go. Other times it cut right into his heart and left him unable to remain conscious. The first time he'd felt that kind of hate was when he'd only been five years old; the memory remained almost fresh in his mind in spite of the fifteen years since then.

The hate he felt now was frail. It was an ancient hate that was beyond reasoning with, but its spikes lacked the potent venom and sharpness that a living hate attacked him with. Lest recognized it from the one he'd felt in the orchard. What had Ventuswill said? It belonged to Storgane. Storgane was an old name of a long passed away being, but it was one he was familiar with.

What Lest felt now... he was dreaming, but it was a special kind of dream caught up in the ether sea, aware beyond his body's reach. What happened here was real, just not physical. But that meant he could run into anything in a human's imagination and beyond. Even a being as long dead as Storgane.

Storgane's hate whipped around Lest like a sharp biting wind straight out of winter. "Still not as bad as a living hate," he said, bringing his hand up to try keeping his bangs out of his eyes. His chi was visible as plainly as when he cast magic, the golden lines giving him a glowing halo of light in the darkness of this hateful gale.

"It won't be so for long," a deep voice said around him. "I only need one heart in total despair to revive my curse and fulfill it at last. I hold six hearts in powerful despair."

"You won't succeed," Lest said. "My family has the key we've been looking for all along."

Storgane laughed at him. "It will fail. You have already failed and ruined your plans. You also don't know enough to stop me. You will fail. You should just run away now. Get out of Selphia, abandon your magic, destroy the rune spheres. What can you do against a god?"

"You're no longer a god," he said, clenching his other fist at his side. "Yes you were once the divine wind dragon, but you're dead! You should have entered the Forest of Beginnings and put your hate to rest. But now that your hate has consumed you, you are no longer a god or even the ghost of a god. You're just a corrupted devil. I serve the living divine wind and I will help her triumph over you at last."

That rankled Storgane and he sneered in hate. "That husk? She never stood a chance against me and only survived so long because I don't have a physical form at this time. But the despair she gives me is exquisite, something you wouldn't find in a strong god."

"I'll stop you from hurting Venti!" Lest declared, not thinking for a second of taking it back.

At his words, as binding as any oath, he suddenly became of four points of light around them. They were also caught in Storgane's hate, separate but aware of each other. And now aware of him arguing with their tormentor. The spiteful ghost growled and tried to dim their lights.

He couldn't do that. "I've come to help you!" he called to them. "I've been delayed, but I will come to awaken you. Hang on and don't give up hope. We can be the ones to triumph with love."

"Don't speak of love around me!" Storgane hissed, his hatred beginning to crackle as if starting up a powerful spell.

But love described the natural flow of life and the bonds of magic. Storgane was perverting nature in clinging to what little remained to him. Lest raised both of his hands and cast a counter magic to break apart the spell being cast at him. The ether sea composing this dream was then filled with golden sunlight, stopping Storgane's magic dead and causing him pain instead. However, he had spent centuries clinging to hate and this would not be enough to defeat him. He lurked back to the stagnant parts of the ether sea, the remains of his curse of hate.

"Don't give up hope," Lest said again now that it was just him and the lights of the guardians. "You will be freed of your obligations before long."

He couldn't decipher a response, if they were given a chance to respond to him. Instead, he opened his eyes to find himself lying in bed. The glow of the predawn sky spilled into his room along with the spring breeze through the windows he had left open. Lest held up one of his hands and found that his chi was still glowing. After watching the lines fade away, he got up and stretched out his body in preparation for the day ahead. The day's work would begin with farming, but soon turn to work on the marketplace. However, he had to be thinking ahead to when he would go out searching for the rune spheres and the guardians.

Storgane's spirit was truly still around. He'd need to write Frey and inform her of the dream. Even so, he had a good idea of what she'd say in response. Storgane had been the divine wind dragon before Ventuswill was born and ascended into divinity. According to tales in his mother's family, Storgane hated humanity so much that he was willing to betray his duty to make the ether sea fall still, making magic impossible for most mortal beings until Ventuswill's birth. Perhaps such an event would destroy all life in time. What was certain was that Storgane's curse was a powerful part in why Ventuswill was having trouble fulfilling the same role he had held.

However, there was a big mystery now that Storgane revealed himself. What was he still doing in the world? Even the gods returned to the Forest of Beginnings upon death.

* * *

><p>"Will you... be my friend?" She sounded so sad and timid.<p>

"I would be your friend," Xiao Pai said, turning around and trying to find her. But there were so many butterflies, in all colors she dreamed of, swirling around and around, up and down, surrounding her.

"We can fly away to the rainbows, out of this sadness and guilt." She seemed like she would cry.

"If it would make you happy, I'd fly away," Xiao said, finally seeing a form other than the small butterflies. Instead of little clover-shaped leaves, the form had huge wings like the petals of an iris.

"My friends have all wilted away and I cried and cried. Wilted away, all but the dragon and the birds in the darkness." Her voice quivered.

She was like a fairy princess, a beautiful girl with butterfly wings. Xiao was entranced. "Your friends are still with you, yes?"

"NO!" She shrieked as the butterflies turned into biting flies and the golden sunlight turned to silver moonlight. Xiao shrieked herself when the flies started biting. "I hurt her bad, I didn't mean to, she was so sad that I found tears of blood and I couldn't go back to her because I made a big promise that was supposed to save her and now she's wilting even more than the others and I want to help her but I can't help anymore, I want to go home but I can't because I promised!"

There was a wail and Xiao fell out bed. But it wasn't her wail. Things were hushed in the inn, just the sounds of her ending up on the floor. She rubbed her arms where she could remember the flies biting. While she could nearly feel it under her skin, there were no marks on her skin of such bites.

"Just a dream again," she said to herself, wrestling herself out of her blanket in order to get back in bed. "But why does it keep coming back, so powerfully?"

* * *

><p>It was early morning just before dawn, but Kiel found himself unable to go back to sleep. Memories from yesterday kept coming back into his thoughts. When he'd gone over to to Bado's place to check up on him and do a few small chores, the dwarf had snapped at him and driven him back out. He had been testy this whole time while in the grip of thelnar. Yesterday had been particularly bad as he'd said some things that cut deeply.<p>

Kiel still worried about him. From his studies, the inspiration usually didn't last this long. It might be that the fountain he was making really took that long. Or it might be that his health was starting to suffer from being pushed so long, keeping him from working as quickly even under divine inspiration. Bado hadn't eaten all that much. The udon and cheesecake from Porcoline that he'd usually polish off even in large portions had remained untouched, even unsealed. There was no way that he could have meant what he'd said.

With those thoughts in mind, Kiel got a jacket and headed out down the street to check on him again. The sun wasn't even above the horizon yet, although it would be before long. Selphia had a mystical silence at this time, one that caused prickles on his skin even with the jacket's warmth. Without anyone else in the streets, there was only the rustle of new leaves in the breeze, the ripples of water in the moats, the call of a few birds, and his own footsteps to disturb the quiet. But he knew it was all at rest, merely awaiting the rays of the sun to begin wakening all. Except maybe Bado; there was still smoke coming from his furnace.

He hesitated a moment at the door, worried he might get yelled at again. Bracing himself for that potential, Kiel gave a few knocks and waited. When he didn't hear anything, he turned the knob quietly and entered the building. "Bado?' he asked.

It was still in here too. Kiel came in and shut the door behind him, then quickly spotted his friend on the floor. With a fright at his condition, he hurried over and knelt to check on him. He seemed to be asleep, the energy of his runes rather low. It reminded him of Lest's condition after he'd come out of his inspired state. Letting out a sigh of relief, Kiel tried to shake his shoulder lightly. He didn't wake up immediately, but mumbled something.

Feeling that he should be okay, Kiel took his jacket off and went around the rooms seeing what chores needed to be taken care of. He saw the fountain again and thought about what a wonder it was, but decided to avoid it for the time being. Instead, he turned down the furnace and opened up all the windows in order to let out the heat and let in fresh air. The meal from Porcoline was still untouched and unsealed, so he took that into the dining table and cleaned up how he could.

He had the door open to sweep out some ashes and dirt when his sister came by on her morning patrol. "There you are," she said, a little annoyed and a little relieved. "I was worried when you weren't in the house."

"Sorry sis," Kiel said, smiling. "I was worried about Bado and decided to check on him when I couldn't sleep."

"How is he?" Forte said, stepping into the store herself to see.

He pointed out where he was still on the floor. "I can't really move him, but he's just asleep. Looks like he finally finished his work and was released from inspiration's grasp."

"Oh good," she said, just as relieved. "I know you told me about it the first day, but this was getting insane. Well I'll leave him to your care, but if he's still not up by noon, you should probably get Jones just in case."

Kiel nodded. "Right. We won't be able to help with the market cleaning, I guess, unless he gets up and feels well enough to install the fountain. I want to stick around to make sure he eats once he wakes up."

"That's a good idea," Forte said, then opened up her bag. "An envelope came for you yesterday, but we were so busy that I couldn't get it to you."

"Thanks," Kiel said, taking it once she handed it over. It had a familiar seal on it, one that made him frown. "Oh this."

Forte shifted and for a moment looked nervous. "It's from the knights in the capitol, so, it's probably about you..."

"I know, I've gotten them before," Kiel said, tapping it against his hand. "I'll check it, but if it's the same as the rest, I'll just give the same answer as before." He chuckled. "I might even have the draft from last year, so maybe I'll send the exact same answer."

"Kiel?" she asked.

He smiled at her. "Whatever they think, I think you're best for the job. Besides, if I accepted their offer a knighthood, I know it's only because of who our father is. I'd have to give up my alchemy studies and I don't want to do that, or take the job you're so dedicated to."

"I just hope the fact that you've been denying them doesn't come back to bite us," Forte said, but she smiled at his words.

"I've got your back and you've got mine, so I don't think we have to worry," he said to reassure her. "I'll see you later then."

"Right, good luck with Bado." She nodded then headed on to continue her review of the town.

It wasn't long after that when Kiel heard a groan out of Bado. He left the room that was used as living space to come check on him. Bleary eyed, Bado was sitting up on the floor and looking around. The intensity that had gripped him was no longer there, leaving Kiel feeling safe in saying, "Hey, good morning. How do you feel?"

"Like I've got a wicked hangover," Bado replied. "What day is it?"

"Spring 21," Kiel said, stopping by the shop counter.

"Good lord," he replied, rubbing his head. "What about the fountain?" He got up and turned to look in his forge.

"It looks amazing, a real work of art," he said, following after him. Bado mumbled something and looked over the fountain silently for a couple of minutes. Coming closer, Kiel said, "You really should eat; I've got one of Porco's meals waiting on you on the table."

"It's not installed," Bado said finally. Then he sighed. "All right, you're probably right. I'll eat and then see about getting this over and attached. Hope I can do that properly now that this has passed."

"I can help you out with it if you need it," Kiel said.

"Yeah, that'd be good. I don't think I'll feel completely settled down until it gets in. Oh ****." He clapped his hand on his forehead with a grimace that seemed in pain.

"Headache?" Kiel guessed, tugging at him to go eat now.

"Well yeah, but," he shook his head then turned to him. "Kiel, you've been over to check on me all this time, haven't you?'

"I tried to visit once or twice a day, to take care of the house and try to take care of you," he said.

"I don't remember clearly, but I must've treated you horribly," Bado said, upset now that he realized that. "I'm really sorry, I probably said some crazy stuff to you."

He had, but Kiel would readily forgive him. "It's okay, I kind of expected it," he said. "You weren't exactly yourself, being enthralled in the act of creation."

"Yeah. In that case, thanks for trying. Man, but I really should make it up to you somehow."

He smiled. "Well first you can eat so I can stop worrying about you passing out from hunger."

Bado laughed at that, a good sign that he was back to his usual self. "All right already. You're a great guy, don't let anyone tell you any differently." He patted Kiel on the head then went to have his first breakfast in nearly two weeks.

* * *

><p><em>There's a lot of lines to juggle when you're writing about a community. But I like the challenge. Hope it stays easy to follow.<em>

_Storgane is a being I brought in to cover some stuff that's only vaguely explained. Plus, he's a closer antagonist than who pops up in Arc 2._


	11. Marketplace Cleaning

**Chapter 11: Marketplace Cleaning**

Spring 21

Wood dust was everywhere as multiple sanders were at work. Lest had a handheld one as he went over the surfaces of one of the booths, taking off old stains and smoothing down rough patches that had grown over time. With goggles and a face mask as protection, he still smelled the sawdust and friction from sandpaper. Sounds from other sanders overpowered anyone trying to talk, especially the large one that Volkanon, Forte, Vishnal, and Lin Fa were taking turns with to get the deck floor. Lest would offer to work the big one too, but Jones advised against it as the vibrations might be too much for his knee. Doug, Xiao, Jones, Margaret, Illuminata, and even Nancy when she got someone else to look after Alice were all working on the booths as well. Those who weren't working with the tools were making sure the rest were taking breaks and getting snacks or drinks to keep them going. Except for Clorica, as she was busy taking care of daily chores around the castle.

Margaret poked him at a point where the other sanders were quieting down. "Hey, Bado's going to show off what he's been doing finally."

"Good, I have to see this," Lest said, shutting his sander down and locking it so it was safe to leave. The others were gathering around at the front center of the marketplace deck where Bado had kept a sheet over the project he'd installed.

Bado himself was looking worn down from the long effort he'd put into this. After wiping off his brow with a wet cloth that Nancy had given him, he looked over them. "Well, I..." he scratched his head. "I have to say, this is what we call thelnar. That is, an inspiration of the gods and not something I could remake. Or charge for, not even the most liberal of dwarves would do that. It's the first time I've had it hit me and, well, hope you don't mind it being a public piece." He then pulled off the cover to reveal his work.

If compared to his stock of poor blades and shields, one wouldn't believe that this fountain was made by the same person. It was gorgeous, polished to gleam brilliantly in the sunlight. Instead of one simple spout, it had four springing from the same center, each spout topped with a flower sculpted of colored glass. The four flowers were all different, each with a pretty fairy perched on it. A red tulip had a yellow fairy lounging on its base, a pink lily had a green fairy kneeling on its petals, a white rose had a red fairy seeming like she had just landed, and an orange chrysanthemum had a blue fairy resting in its petals. Sculpted leaves made up the handles while wide silver bowls caught the water below. With the design, the distance the water fell was enough to put a cup under to catch some or make the bowls below ring soothingly.

"Holy smokes, you're not kidding," Doug said in awe, examining the fountain.

"It's beautiful," Lin Fa said, to the agreement of many others. "Though a bit girly, don't you think?"

Bado laughed, although he was clearly proud of the work. "Guess you could say that. It's from some rarely seen fairies that are known to live in Selphia, the four elements, so I've called it the Elements Fountain in my mind. I was going to make a simple fountain, but then I was talking to you Lin Fa, and Nancy and Lest too, and this kept coming back to me. Eventually, it completely gripped my mind and I had to make it real. Course, now everybody's going to expect master level crafting from me which is a huge load of work, but, whatever. I'm honored and humbled to have been the hands of the gods for a short time."

"I think it's great," Lest said. "Praise the gods with their mysterious ways."

"Yeah, praise them," Bado repeated.

"Does anybody else think it's lunch time?!" Porcoline called as he came down the street with a pair of large carts. Nobody wanted to disagree, so they took a break to share a meal.

Lest decided to eat with Lin Fa and Xiao, as he still hadn't gotten the latter to mention the dreams to him yet. She did seem less awkward around him today, only shaking her head when her mother teased them. "I'll find love when I'm ready for it, I'm sure," Xiao said. "Just not right now."

"Wait too long and you might find yourself too old for guys to want," Lin Fa said.

"Would you rather her rush into things?" Lest asked skeptically.

"No, but she's already 22."

"That's not old!" Xiao insisted. "Not anywhere near too old for love. I don't see why people think you ought to get married by 25; sure, it's fine if you do find your true love early on. But I'm still finding things out and I want to make sure things will work out."

"I guess you do have a point," Lin Fa admitted. "What do you think, Lest?"

He shrugged, not wanting to tell them it was law in his tribe. "I've had people in my old town tell me to start looking when I turned 18. But then I had the obstacle of finding someone I wasn't related to first."

The two women laughed. "I used to be afraid that might become a problem here in Selphia," Lin Fa said. "Then again, if efforts like this work out like we want, it might end up no trouble at all. We may even have to start thinking of improving our inn in case we get competition."

'Like if someone buys up the old Willow Inn?" Xiao asked. "Or even manages to evict the ghosts out of Obsidian Mansion."

"I doubt that," Lin Fa said. "That place has been haunted for generations and the Marionetta monster is as dangerous as Ambrosia."

"But Obsidian Mansion is right in town, up the hill and across from Dragon Lake," Lest said. "That's a pretty big threat as a neighbor if it's like Ambrosia."

"It is scary at times," Xiao said. "I would be so scared of shadows in the windows that I saw from the inn that I wouldn't look out the southwest windows when I was little. But that part of the mansion is on a different cliff, while the ghosts rarely come across the crevasse."

"What do you mean by that part of the mansion?" Lest asked.

Xiao spread her hands apart. "Because the mansion appears in about a dozen different places in Selphia's countryside, sometimes separated by miles. When inside, though, it all becomes one building like the Coquille manor. It's all chopped up on the outside, but the runes put it back together from the inside."

"There aren't many reports about what the inside is like because it's difficult to escape," Lin Fa said. "Marionetta sometimes lures people inside. At a time before I came here, there was a princess who ordered the bridge to the other cliff destroyed to keep people from wandering in at this location."

"I heard that Kiel got stuck in there once," Xiao said. "And Forte risked her life to get him out. But I haven't heard much of the story from them. I was in another country when it happened, so I don't know much about it."

Lest made a mental note to try asking Kiel and Forte about it later. There was supposed to be a rune spring on the other cliff here, maybe even in the mansion. Then if Marionetta was as dangerous as Ambrosia, they might have the same origin. "I wonder if the two monsters are related," Lest said. "Just a hunch, but..."

"They might be," Lin Fa said. "Both of them return to rune springs rather than the Forest of Beginnings when defeated, and it takes an awful lot of effort to defeat either."

"Are there other monsters like that in Selphia?" Lest asked, guessing there were two more.

"Thunderbolt is, I believe," Lin Fa said. "It roams the old ruins near the northern border, which is big trouble as the water spring there helps to supply Selphia and a couple of our neighboring regions. Because the area around there is mostly uninhabited, not as many people get into trouble with Thunderbolt as with the two right here. But those are the only exceptional ones as far as I know."

"You'd think there'd be four because there's four rune springs in Selphia, not three, yes?" Xiao said. "I wonder if there's something really special about them, and sometimes even feel a bit bad for Ambrosia."

"Even after it attacked you?" Lin Fa asked, surprised.

Her cheeks turned pink as she admitted, "Um, yes, actually after that. See, because, I keep having one of those dreams about her, and she asks me to be her friend. Then she says that all of her friends except some birds wilted, I guess she means died, and then she gets really upset when talking about one other friend who isn't wilted. That was the really terrifying dream, more like a nightmare that I can't help but think is Ambrosia's nightmare. Somehow I keep seeing it. I don't know, maybe she wants help?"

"If she wants help, you think she wouldn't attack people," Lin Fa said.

"Unless she can't help it," Lest said. "Like how those caught up in her curse can't help their delusions because they can't realize what they experience isn't real."

"Lin Fa, Xiao Pai!" Porcoline called out in a way that got everyone's attention. He was waving the two women over. "There was something else to go along with lunch."

"Really?" Lin Fa up, getting up to go over to him. "But, why only call us?"

Xiao chuckled and ran a little ahead of her. "Oh Momma, you should know. It's your birthday, yes?"

"Huh?" Lin Fa asked. Lest would have asked if she really could forget something like that, but her runes indicated so. Once she realized it, her eyes brightened. "Oh yes, it is the twenty-first, isn't it? Thanks for reminding me."

Some of the others there laughed, but Xiao seemed happy. "Same as always. Well I wanted to make you a cake for celebration, but then this came up, so I felt as though you would want to share. I honestly could not make so much cake at once, so it seems I asked Porco for assistance."

"Yay!" Lin Fa said, clapping her hands in a nearly childish delight. Everyone there offered her well-wishes and seemed happy to celebrate with her.

* * *

><p>Spring 22<p>

After making sure all the sawdust was gone, the next day was spent painting wood finish and sealer on the deck and booths. It wasn't as messy or noisy, but took just as much time due to needing several coats. Doing this outside helped as the fumes were readily scattered in the wind, but Lest and his neighbors (he couldn't bring himself to think of them as subjects) still wore masks just in case.

This time, he took lunch with Kiel and Forte to talk about Obsidian Mansion. "We're trying to boost tourism and interest, but that's going to be tough with these dangerous locations so close by," Lest said, as an excuse to get the topic started.

It made Kiel thoughtful. "I suppose you could advertise it for adventurers? If enough strong people come through, it could cut down on the danger in a few years and make things safer."

"That's a risk as such areas are deadly to the unprepared," Forte said, not happy with the suggestion.

"We could require an adventuring license for going there," Kiel said, not wanting to give up on an idea of his.

Lest smiled. "That doesn't sound half bad. We've already got laws requiring a cooking license. If there was a way to test the skill of adventurers and get them to agree that these areas are to be taken at one's own risk, there might be those who try."

"Oh, but we might need another doctor if we really do that," Kiel said, turning the idea around in his head. "Because it is dangerous and they'd come back injured."

"It'd be tough finding an adequate area to test such people in without risking their lives in doing so," Forte said. "Selphia's a beautiful region, but there is a lot of danger even in unexpected places. Like those element fairies we have a fountain of now. They're powerful with magic and can cast great distances. You don't even have to see one and they can make you end up seriously wounded."

"What about a dungeon flower?" Kiel asked his sister. "If you take care of them in exact ways, you can affect the difficulty of the resulting dungeon space that appears in their gate. And you can schedule the tests that way so that it's ready when the applicants are ready."

"Possibly," she said. "We still wouldn't want them near the non-returning monsters or some others, especially not the ghosts in Obsidian Mansion."

"Not all the ghosts there are bad," Kiel said. "I met a really funny one who got me into the library to help me find a way out, before you came in after me. She even let me take one of the books, which was a huge help as I was learning magic."

"Most of them are trouble, and then there's the torturer in Marionetta," Forte said, shivering at the last.

"Well she's a monster so she can't be a ghost," Kiel pointed out.

"How did you two get out?" Lest asked. "I heard that the doors can lock on you."

"It can fix the windows too, since that's what I tried first," Forte said.

"If you're in the right spot, you can use escape magic to get out," Kiel said. "That's what I did; we tracked down a good area that was a weak zone in the mansion's runes through temperature differences and I used Escape for both of us. I was going to send us to the theater door, since that's the one right in town across the crevasse. But then Marionetta was lurking in that room, so we ended up some distance from town to the northeast, where the main entrance hall leads to."

"I had heard enough about her from my father to not even try to fight her at the time," Forte said. "Then again, I was just twelve and still using training equipment. We got in a lot of trouble for going in there, but I think Father was more relieved that we got out quickly and alive."

* * *

><p>Spring 24<p>

The booths were still drying the next day, delaying moving them back until evening. Instead, they took to cleaning up the three gates into town, by the inn, on the docks across from the general store, and to the south heading out into a large plain. New flags sewn by various people went up, making the marketplace feel more complete.

Today, they were able to put the booths back in place, making sure that they lined up with the new outlets. The covers, having been taken down to recycle for other projects, were now replaced with a widely mixed array of covers. One like a leafy canopy, another with big bold orange and yellow stripes, one with Ventuswill's symbol, one with a snowflake pattern, one with a patchwork quilt appearance… it made things much more colorful.

Then there was other pieces to add. Illuminata and Margaret had made new signs to mark the booth numbers, waiting to carve the numbers in until they saw which roof cover best matched the sign pictures they had made. Nancy and Clorica brought various pieces of wall paper to paste onto shelves. At the end of the day, they had what seemed like a completely new place, not plain in any part. It was fun and hopefully it got the attention of visitors.

They celebrated with a feast at Porcoline's and a long evening of chatting and having fun. But Lest's mind was already thinking of the days ahead and what he wanted to get done. He took a chance to join some of the older residents to talk about it, in particular Blossom and Illuminata. Doug was also at the table, but he was mostly listening. To make it seem reasonable, Lest explained about wanting to know about the threats. "Because central Norad wants us to have better tourism, but we can't talk about what's outside of town with these unusual monsters around."

"You're in quite a pickle there," Illuminata said.

Blossom nodded. "Yes, although it's generally safe as long as you avoid certain areas. Like with Ambrosia; she's nearly always at the western edges of Yokmir Forest from about mid-spring to early summer, then again in mid-autumn. Thunderbolt never bothers anyone who avoids going near the lake ruins and Marionetta never leaves the mansion."

"Oh, but we do have to check on the aqueducts at least once a year, so Thunderbolt is a huge obstacle then," Illuminata said. "That trip requires planning a group to go in one day to clear out the monsters, including Thunderbolt, then a second group to go in quickly that evening or the next day to check over the spring there before it comes back. The water spring that feeds the aqueducts, I mean, not the water rune spring."

Lest wondered when that trip was usually made. "I see. Is there a fourth monster like them? Because there's four rune springs."

"Yes, that'd be Sarcophagus we haven't mentioned," Blossom said. "Most people don't even dare go near Leon Karnak Tower and never have my whole life. But that's some of the most frightening stories in town folklore, about the black coffin that eats people alive."

"When I first came into town, they were starting to discourage people from going," Illuminata said. "There used to be a superstition about when it was safe to go to the tower without running into Sarcophagus, sort of like how Ambrosia moves around based on the seasons. I'm sure I remember it..." She tapped her fingers on the table, thinking.

Doug had been thinking all along, so in the quite he said, "When you're talking about Thunderbolt, you mean that black stormy unicorn at the water ruins?"

Blossom nodded. "That's the one. Have you seen it?"

"Yeah, that one nearly killed me once," Doug said. "Certainly scared me bad because the ruins seemed like a quiet place to set up camp and then it torched my tent with a lightning bolt. Thankfully it didn't pursue me past the lake. Afterwards, I got to thinking that unicorns are supposed to be peaceful solitary creatures that you have to get crazy lucky to see, especially for a guy. Not like this one that seemed more likely to gore me for trespassing on its territory."

"Oh my, good thing you ran from the ruins instead of into them," Blossom said.

Illuminata then snapped her fingers. "Got it! The tower is safest to approach on a Sunday, as well as the first and last days of the season. Sarcophagus is also supposed to be less aggressive if you go during winter or the moon cycle just before and after that season. But even with those guidelines, you can get unlucky and run into it outside the tower. Once you see it, well, you're probably screwed."

* * *

><p>Spring 25<p>

Gauntlets were nice objects. They were armor and weapon all at once, enforced gloves to make more powerful blows and allow a fist fighter to block a weapon. Although, the latter wasn't a guarantee unless the fist fighter was an expert and the resulting vibrations could still do damage to one's arm and hand. Still, it sounded good, sometimes enough to make a sale unless the customer was an expert fighter.

Bado considered the gauntlet he'd recently made. Finger joints on a proper gauntlet took days to get right and then had to be adjusted to fit the customer, so he'd simply made a hand guard and used spiked rings to give it an extra edge. Simple and the rings should fit most hands. It wasn't a pretty object, with unpainted blocky surfaces. As a weapon, aesthetics shouldn't count for much; a rougher looking weapon like this might be more intimidating. And it was heavy, possibly taking a toll on a user who didn't have adequate strength.

But it should work. That's what mattered, and that it sold. Thinking he'd put it on special, he began making a sign for it. The price didn't need to be any different for it to be a special, it just needed a sign to make it look more appealing. Give it a flashy name, like... Blockbuster Gauntlets, as a person of sufficient strength and skill could bust up a concrete block with this. Play up its weapon and armor hybrid state to make it seem more useful. He could even point out that the gauntlet wouldn't need a custom fitting and appeal to a customer's sense of saving on that extra cost. No need to tell them that he normally didn't charge extra for a fitting if an item needed it and figured that into the cost in the first place. Just the perception of a deal could tip a waver into a sale.

Bado was looking for a place to set the gauntlets and sign when Kiel walked in. "Hello!" the young man said, an excited look on his face. Something big was on his mind.

"Good afternoon," Bado said, setting the sign face down on the counter. Although it was declining lately, Kiel often thought of how he could be stronger and defend himself better. The sign might appeal to him when he took things at face value more often than not. And to tell the truth, Bado would not want these Blockbuster Gauntlets to go to Kiel. They were too bulky (especially for his hands) and without the finger pieces, they were also not as secure and didn't guard all they should. But if he wouldn't want to have Kiel use them, why would he sell them to someone else?

Cursing his nagging integrity, Bado was relieved that Kiel hardly saw the gauntlets and instead put a dagger on the counter. "Xiao pulled this out of a tree in the royal farm the other day. What do you think about it?"

The dagger soon put the potential special sale out of Bado's mind. He picked it up, noticing the divide between the glittering majority of the blade and the rusting base of it. Despite the wear, it was quickly apparent to his eye that this was the work of a master blacksmith. "Whoa... she pulled this out of a tree? That's really bizarre. Was it a twinkle tree? This glisten is like glitta augite but it's clearly not made of it."

Kiel nodded. "Right, and it was the most amazing thing! The one this had been stuck in was dead, but we found a sapling right by it and Prince Lest said that he wanted to make a miracle happen, what he called, uh, aioni I think. And it worked! I got to hear the earthmate's pledge song and he used it to recover all the surviving trees in the orchard area and make a little stick of a sapling into a big healthy twinkle tree. He even fixed up his own leg, but then also disturbed some kind of curse of hate and got knocked out because of it. He was using that dagger to direct the miracle and fight off the curse spirits at first. So, I was mostly curious about what this was and if it could be fixed."

Bado rapped on the rusted section, finding that there was still solid metal there. "Yeah, it should be salvageable. Have to get the rust off, then patch it up carefully to retain the quality it should have. Still, in a tree, that's not where you should be finding a dwarven miner's weapon."

"It's a miner's weapon?" Kiel asked, leaning on the counter.

He ran his finger carefully along the part with the glitta augite coating. "This coating will have changed its native properties some. Anyhow, the base weapon a good choice if you're going to be fighting spirits because that's its original purpose. This kind of dagger would be given to one fellow in a crew so that if the group ended up disturbing a spirit or another creature that resisted mining tools, he could dispatch the monster for the rest. From the runes, it seems this one was used in a volcanic mine; it probably took the wet winter weather worse than another weapon. And here, see the gems on the handle?"

"Is that part of the enchantment?" he asked, then frowned. "No, couldn't be. Lest is a rune breaker and would ruin any extra enchantments it had when he held it."

"The anti-spirit enchantment is due to the alloy," Bado explained. "And if that's true, he shouldn't disturb what these gems do either. They're special detectors that will crack if the air in a mine turns dangerous. They wouldn't be the only such detectors in a mine crew as the faster they know, the quicker they can get out of danger. Still, the fact that these gems are uncracked and primed for that purpose tells me that this is the miner's dagger as opposed to one made to counter spirits in general. Then the size and shape of the handle itself tells me it's for a dwarf. You know, a regular one and not a giant like me." He laughed.

Kiel smiled. "Right, that one doesn't fit you. Do you think it belongs to Doug then?"

He shrugged. "Probably, he's the only other dwarf in Selphia and the one I have in my collection has cracked detectors. And if you don't recognize it, it's not part of your family's collection."

"You'd have to ask Forte to make sure," he said sheepishly. "I don't know how to tell some of those swords apart."

"Well I'll patch it up and see if Doug recognizes it," Bado said. "Thanks for bringing it by."

"No problem, thanks for letting me know what it is," Kiel said, glad to learn something new. The boy's head had always been like a sponge for knowledge. Although, one would think he would have found more skepticism in all that learning somewhere.

Out of respect for the weapon, he was careful in making the fix. It had some age to it, telling him that it was likely a hereditary weapon. The miners might even attribute it as a lucky item if it had been with an active miner and never had its detectors break. Even if it was extra work, Bado didn't like the idea of messing up a weapon with that kind of history to it. It had to have an especially interesting one to have ended up in a dying twinkle tree long enough to get mostly coated in its sap. Once he had the dagger in usable shape again, he headed down to the grocery store with it.

Blossom was the one who greeted him at the door as usual. "What are you looking for today?"

"Don't think I need anything, although your cinnamon rolls smell tempting," he said. Blossom was good with baked treats, especially breads. Bado found himself buying some from her at least once a week. "I was hoping to talk with Doug about something, if he's around."

She nodded and got up. "Sure, he's in the basement storage." She put a hand on the door frame and called down, "Doug? You have a visitor."

It was a funny thing interacting with Doug because while Bado was tall among the humans and elves of Selphia, he was nearly twice the height of a regular dwarf like him. It was a quirk of his family, making them some of the first dwarves willing to walk on the surface and interact with other races. At least this young fellow wasn't a traditionalist who held him in superstition. "Oh, Bado. What is it?"

"This yours?" he asked, handing down the miner's spirit dagger.

He looked at it, then nodded. "Yeah, this is my great-grandmother's dagger. What're you doing with it? Last I knew it was stuck in a tree."

Bado smiled, glad he had it pegged right. "Kiel brought it into my shop; apparently Xiao pulled it out. It had some rust, but I patched it up."

"Thanks," he said, turning the blade over to examine it. "It looks a little different, though."

"That's due to it getting mostly stuck in a twinkle tree and getting a coating of a magical sap," Bado explained. "It'll change the properties a bit, mostly in that it can use energy projectiles now when swung right. Not very powerful because the blade isn't fully covered, but even that much would be a rather expensive upgrade."

"It's nice that you got it back," Blossom said to Doug. "But what was it doing in a tree? And a twinkle tree no less; the only one in town that I can think of was in the royal orchard."

"Ah," he scratched his head, then said, "Well back when the former prince was ignoring most of his farm, I took to practicing in the orchard some evenings. Only the dagger got stuck one night and I wasn't able to get it out at the time."

"You should be more careful with that weapon," Bado said in a friendly warning. "It's meant to fight spirits and ghosts. More importantly, as old as it is, it looks like none of the detector gems on the handle have broken and been replaced. The miners would hold it in great regard as it had the luck to go on many expeditions without lethal accidents in the mines."

"Oh, is that what they meant?" Doug said, looking back at the dagger with a new respect. "My grandfather said it was a good fortune and protector, but I was never sure if he meant some enchantment I hadn't found."

He nodded. "Most likely it's the unbroken detectors."

"I wouldn't know, since I wasn't born in the mines. But I'll be more careful with it, thank you."

That explained how he hadn't known, although the answer just brought up another mystery. "Must've been some big reason to convince him to give it to a surface dwarf," he said.

Doug shrugged. "I guess. How much do you want for fixing it?"

Maybe he could get some extra money... no, not for a fortune weapon like that. Its history called for special care and consideration. "Well I don't want to overcharge for an unasked fix on a hereditary weapon, so seventy-five gold would cover the work and material for it."

"All right, I'll get that in a moment." He paid for the repair and then Bado used some of it to pay for a tin of the cinnamon rolls. It was worth it.

* * *

><p>Meant to fight spirits and ghosts... must have taken a big reason to give it to a surface dwarf...<p>

It was late and Doug was lying in bed, running those statements through his head still. Both sets of his grandparents were mining dwarves, very traditional and very superstitious (if hypocritical in ways they wouldn't admit). When his grandfather had given this to him as if it were a holy relic, he thought it'd just been a hope to inspire him to come back to the mines and the traditional way. But Bado thought that the air detectors on the handle had never been replaced. Mines were dangerous and for a detection item to go unbroken for many years, at least two generations, that was worth the veneration. How long had this dagger existed like that?

Not that he could find out that answer nor why his grandfather had given it to him. But he had known already that it was very effective against spirits. He'd first dispatched a hate spirit with it not even a day after he'd received it. Yes, a hate spirit just like the ones that had appeared in the royal orchard when he witnessed Lest's miracle. If Xiao had pulled it out of the tree, it had probably been this dagger that the prince had been using against them. Then Ventuswill had killed the third and Lest had screamed and fainted from contacting some powerful hate.

Normally the thought of Ventuswill would make his blood boil. But not tonight. "Something's not adding up," Doug muttered. But what?

Lest might have found an old hate in a curse, true. Or perhaps the newer hate that Doug had of that murderous Ventuswill, that could have gotten the prince off guard. Lest would have been in a vulnerable position, being under his kind's version of thelnar and in combat with a hateful spirit. While that could easily be explained, another side wasn't easy. Ventuswill had used one spell, a moderate cyclone attack that a sufficiently skilled mage could cast. Heck, Kiel could probably cast that one readily. The cyclone had caused Ventuswill to collapse to the ground, the energy from the magic and having left her usual spot in the center of the castle taking an immense toll on her. While she might have done something unseen to keep the rest of the curse energy from escaping, that shouldn't have been too much for a divine dragon to perform. She'd only gone out of her castle and what she did could have better been done by a mortal mage.

Could this really be the same dragon that, five years ago, had traveled outside of Selphia and crushed an entire village for no apparent reason? Two whole villages, one of them being underground? It didn't seem right. But after so long of preparing his revenge, could he risk being wrong now? There was always the chance that she could be faking the weakness as much as she faked being a good protective goddess.

"It had to be an act," Doug muttered. And if this dagger was lucky against dangerous air, perhaps it was a good thing to keep on him.

* * *

><p><em>AN: To the reviewer who said this was long and detailed, hah, you are more right that you may realize._

_Tourism is a score in the game and a point behind a lot of things you do, like holding festivals. But it's never brought up that having these powerful boss monsters so close by, even right in town in Marionetta's case, would be a big detractor from tourists. Although, this world has monsters living everywhere, so I guess tourists would be of a more adventurous sort._

_I don't know if it's official, but Bado always struck me as a big guy even though he's supposed to be a dwarf. Might just be his portrait; Doug comes across as more of a dwarf, albeit a really clean dandy one. It's a neat swap of expectations in my opinion._


	12. Leon Karnak Tower

**Chapter 12: Leon Karnak Tower**

Spring 25

When Lest got up in the morning, he went out into the fields to check on his crops. The field he'd chosen to work with was the northeastern field with some work in the southeastern orchard. Having cleared away the grasses and weeds, he bought various standard crops from both stores to start with: spinach, turnips, lettuce, onions, carrots, cucumbers, toyherbs, clovers, more cherry grass, and blue charms. In some pots inside, he kept various cooking herbs like parsley, oregano, chives, and coriander. There had been pink melons for sale too, but they were just out of his budget right now, along with the watermelons. But there was some time to wait on them still. After all, he'd want to hold back on the watermelons so that they came to ripened fruit around the start of summer and lasted through that season. There were weeds to pick and some unearthed stones to break up, but he was already getting strong enough to not have to take it as slowly.

He got back into his room around eight, where Clorica had brought in some breakfast for him. Her eyes were mostly closed and her words were all mumbled; sleep runes were still strong in her. While it was curious, he'd seen her sleep working like this before and knew she was okay. The first time she had delivered his breakfast, she'd been in her pajamas on accident and it was earlier than he was used to. Even asleep as she was, she now remembered what he said about preferring breakfast after he'd done his morning farm work.

There was one advantage to her being like that. Even though she stuck around to do some cleaning, she didn't question him when he started pulling out the adventuring gear that his parents had sent him. He'd checked over all of them last night, as well as his staff as a back-up weapon to the casting gloves. Since he didn't know what kind of charm would work best where he was going, he put in the jasper one in the cloak alongside Venti's charm. He wore light clothing underneath the armor, using the boots and gloves to finish it off. The hairpin got a charm that should prevent against status effects like sleep and confusion; that protection was often best on the head. Then he headed out, hoping to catch a few people to talk with before leaving on his first exploration of the Selphia countryside.

There were a few who asked curiously about his gear. Lest simply told most of them that he was going to scout out the nearby area for signs of the rune spheres. However, Forte seemed unsure of letting him leave on his own. "It's my duty to see to your protection as well, especially as you're the prince," she said. "As we talked about the other day, there's a lot of dangerous places out there."

"I know where the road to Yokmir Forest is from the local maps," Lest said. "I don't mean to go there yet. I'll be fine."

"How much experience do you have being out in the wilderness?" she asked.

"I spent a full year out in a forest, living off the land and taming some monsters to help me out." There was also his family helping him out, but he needed to convince Forte that he'd be fine on his own.

It seemed to work as she nodded. "I see. Still, don't take any careless chances and call me with your bracelet if you get in any kind of trouble. I'll be right over to help."

"Thanks, that's good to know." With that, it seemed no one was going to stop him from leaving Selphia to start off the mission he should have finished by now.

As he walked down the dirt path heading south and eventually west, things started out relatively pleasant. The earth was fully awakened to spring now, with the bright green grasses and pops of flower color coating the ground. Most trees had filled out, fresh with green leaves and bright flowers if that was their way. There were some monsters roaming around, but they were friendly non-aggressive sorts that would be handy to tame and keep on the farm. The big apple-like Pomme Pommes were known to have sweet dispositions and simple curing powers, the fluffy Woolies were more likely to pause for grooming rather than attack people who walked by, the large ants were busily working at their group survival. There were some orcs camped out near one monster gate, each armed with simple clubs or knives. But they were easy to take out with a fireball spell and the gate was weak enough that a single wind blade took it right out.

His goal for this day's trip was to check out Leon Karnak Tower. It was only a few miles away and the roads to it weren't forbidden like those to Yokmir Forest. He wasn't sure yet where the nearest entrance outside of town to the Obsidian Mansion was and the northern ruins were going to be a long trek to arrive at. According to the superstitions, this was a good time to come here. It was a Sunday within the first moon cycle of spring. Thus, the tower seemed the best choice to check on first.

Another group of orcs were clustered in a meadow not far from the tower. After dispatching them to the Forest of Beginnings, Lest stopped to have lunch and observe the place. The tower was shaped much like a giant slender fox. Large paws stood at either side of a massive door written with a long text in Earthmate script. He spent some time copying down that text to send to Frey for translation, since she knew the old holy language better than he did. Instead of stairs, this tower had a pair of wide ladders that headed up to levels that floated around the tall fox's body. Sections of the tower were formed like clothes, eventually leading up to an ornate collar and a large fox head at the very top. But wrapped around the tower was that smoky malformation of runes that still resembled a forest. Up here close to the tower, he could see that the forest wasn't even realistic looking. The textures were too smooth on the leafs and too shiny on the barks, with the colors all unnatural.

"Is that the Forest of Beginnings?" Lest wondered aloud. He didn't know what that forest was supposed to look like, only that few people had ever been inside and managed to return. It was a place for souls, not for those still attached to their earthly body.

Perhaps the more pressing question was, how was he going to get to the rune spring when it was within the tower itself? He could sense its powerful flow through the walls, but when he approached the large door, there seemed to be no way to open it. On walking around the tower, he found that there was a twisting decoration all the way down the fox's back. A set of stairs, possibly? The rune spring seemed to be close to where the stairways ended at the ground, but there was no door back here either.

"So it's either get that door translated, or get to the top of the tower and climb all the way back down to reach the rune spring," he noted. "All the while avoiding the malformation because that feels dangerous. This is gonna be a hard nut to crack."

He could try to get the rune sphere at least, as he could sense it near the ground. Maybe he couldn't get to this rune spring and its guardian yet, but he could take the sphere to another spring while waiting on the answer to get in here. There was a sharp drop in the land here, forcing Lest to find a path down it safely to get where he sensed the sphere. This was quite a ways from Selphia, making him wonder why the monster that found it decided to bring it out here.

On hearing a crunch underfoot, Lest looked down and saw that he'd stepped on an old bone. An old human bone, he realized on seeing its runes. And it wasn't the only one. The dirt and weather had covered them up, but bones were scattered all over the ground here. Maybe even all around the tower if what Nem said was true, that many people lost their lives trying to solve the problems around this place. Briefly, he considered leaving now. He could handle monsters, but most of the time he did so by using his empathy to find ways to deter them from attacking. He'd only fought the orcs because they were aggressive but easily dealt with using magic. Wanting to make this trip worth the walk over, Lest continued on down the bone littered path to find the rune sphere.

Runes marking a battle began to appear, soon followed by a monster's death scream. But that really wasn't typical. Many monsters would calm and go quiet as tamitaya, the spell of returning, hit them. Lest ran down the path until he spotted a strange looking orc going through a painful looking transferal to the Forest of Beginnings. Some of the corrupt runes even appeared from its body. However, a telltale blue glimmer came from the strange orc. Standing over it, the black armored Executioner was waiting for it to pass fully.

Lest held his breath for a moment. Was he ready to take on this warrior? But he remembered the fear this one claiming to bring death held. While his powers should work on the guardians, he didn't think he could help this man in the same way. Machinery was tricky to work magic on and could be highly resistant to spells. The low sounds and peculiar quality of the runes reminded him of looking over an airship engine.

Then the eyeshield on the armor glinted red. "You," the Executioner growled, immediately forgetting about the rune sphere in favor of rushing at Lest and trying to kill him on the spot.

Lest bolted, his heart racing in his chest. Thankfully, the Executioner overshot the attack and jammed his scythe nearly entirely into the ground. He didn't doubt that the armor could pull the weapon out as easily as it had gone in, so Lest cast a paralysis spell to try slowing it. While it was stuck paralyzed and unwilling to let go of the scythe, he hurried over to the orc and cast tamitaya directly on it. The seizure quieted immediately, letting it vanish normally. The corrupt runes remained as well; Lest ignored them and grabbed the rune sphere.

As he did, a small being that looked like a glowing turnip with adorable eyes appeared in the air where the orc must have stood. The runey chirped cheerfully, a thanks for letting the forest reclaim the orc. This was followed by the tearing of the ground as the Executioner got his scythe back in hand. Unafraid, the runey babbled and made the whole scene nearly turn white to Lest's eyes. When his vision cleared, he found himself and the runey on the lowest platform of Leon Karnak Tower.

"Thank you, runey," Lest said, a deep sense of relief coming over him along with some sadness. How could he figure out what was going on with the Executioner and help the person trapped inside?

The runey peeped, already fading from existence. The strange little creatures could never last long. But with the peep, Lest heard a ghostly voice from above him. "Kind one..."

And a second, "Wise one..."

"Ascend and speak with us," the two said as one.

The runey seemed enthusiastic for the idea, but then passed on to the Forest of Beginnings. It looked like he was going to be climbing the tower after all. But, perhaps it was for the best. He wasn't ready to take on the Executioner and that enemy would surely look around for him and the rune sphere before long. "All right, I'll take your invitation," Lest called towards the sky, then looked around at the platform. The corrupt runes flowed in crooked streams that didn't care for typical directions. But as he could see them, he could avoid them.

The tower's platforms often had large monsters patrolling them: little devils, goblins, minotaurs, maul cats, wizard spirits. Aside from the last, Lest managed to make his way by casting spells before the monsters could reach him. His new casting gloves gave him a considerable range compared to his previous limits. It helped that the monsters were also reluctant to cross the corrupt rune streams. If he could get a stream between himself and them, only the wizards and certain goblins could attack him. Using his counter magic skill was often enough to dispatch them. It took several hours to get through the monsters and climb all the ladders.

Upon reaching the collar of the fox tower, Lest found himself looking up at a final pair of metal ladders. Both were tall and spindly, with air all around them due to how the fox's face had been carved. One had a piece snapped out of it; age and being left up here in the open air hadn't been kind to the structure. Lest put his hands on the whole ladder and focused for a moment to carefully examine the runes. From that, it looked like it should still hold his weight as he was on the small side for a man. He climbed up it carefully, with the winds sweeping around him and the sun's rays starting to fall into a sunset. Getting up here had taken longer than he'd planned on staying; he wasn't going to get back to Selphia tonight.

At the very top of the tower on the fox's head, Lest pulled himself onto a dangerous platform. It wasn't entirely flat, with some parts sloping down to fit with the sculpted form of this tower. There were no rails keeping him from slipping or being blown straight off here. Not only that, but the floor that was there had been made smooth from over a thousand years of wind, rain, and sun. He did find the two beings who had spoken to him: a pair of stone fox statues that sat looking down upon him. One had a sweeping stone scarf of red glass going over its back. The other similar ornamentation in blue.

"Who are you?" Lest asked them. Their runes showed an artificial life within them, making them some form of golem.

"Sano," the one with the red scarf said in a voice leaning towards being masculine.

"Uno," the one in the blue scarf said in a voice not entirely feminine. "We are the servants of the master of the tower."

"We are the ones who guard the guardians," Sano added. "Who are you, descendant of Darryl?"

Descendant of Darryl, interesting that they picked up on that. "I'm Lest, the prince of Selphia," he said. "I've come to free the guardians and replace them with these rune spheres."

"Are you worthy of becoming the master of the tower?" Sano asked.

"I don't know," Lest answered honestly. The wind picked up and made him tense. He tried to move towards the center of the platform, to feel less like he could go over the edge at any moment. That put him directly under the gazes of the stone foxes.

"The master of the tower is one who can change the world," Uno said. "Darryl was the first master of the tower."

"The only master of the tower," Sano said. "Only the master can enter it."

"But the rune spring is inside the tower," Lest said. "I need to get down there to put the rune sphere in place."

"That's not what we mean," Uno said. "Only the master can enter the tower."

"The rune spring is below us, not in the tower," Sano said.

Which didn't make much sense to Lest. "But I sensed it within the tower's walls."

"It is, but it is not in the tower," Sano said.

Not wanting to figure out that bizarre riddle right now, he shook his head. "All right, if you say so. Then may I go down the stairs here to place the sphere and awaken the guardian Leon?"

The two foxes didn't answer for a moment. They didn't seem to have full emotions, but they had more than a typical golem would have. At the moment, they were uneasy, caught in their own riddle. "We are unsure if that should occur," Sano finally said.

"Darryl told us to guard the guardian and make sure his work goes undisturbed," Uno explained.

"When other guardians came into being, we felt they fell under our duty as well even if we had to remain in this tower."

"But the guardians are being disturbed from forces within that we cannot guard them from. They are in a lot of pain and despair with their duty and connection being the primary objectives keeping them going. We have been uncertain how to respond to this other than to follow orders and make sure nothing outside disturbs them as well."

"We have waited for the master of the tower to return to us and advise us on what to do about this."

"Darryl is dead and passed on after all this time," Lest said, starting to see a way to make this work in his favor. He just wished he didn't have to do this out on the open top of the tower.

"He is not here," Sano agreed.

"He is here," Uno disagreed.

"Pardon?" Lest asked, looking to the blue scarfed fox.

"He is here and he is not here," Uno repeated. "He does not return to us to inform us of changes."

"Little is done to regulate the energy flow in and around the tower," Sano said. "Darryl is the only master of the tower thus far. There seems to be no master to the tower to regulate the flow."

"We were not informed on how to view a new master should he arrive," Uno said.

While many of the texts in his family spoke highly of Darryl, this seemed horribly neglectful to Lest. Golems did not need the same amount of care as other monsters. However, they did need clear instructions to complete their tasks. Without it, such beings were often brought to a halt as they had no ability to decide a new course. It may work in his favor, though. "Do you feel guilt that you cannot do anything to save the guardians from the pain and despair they suffer from?" he asked them.

"Guilt," Sano said as if it were an unfamiliar term.

"There is nothing we can do," Uno said.

"Do you worry about them suffering like that and thus suffer yourselves because you can't help them as you should, being their guardians?" Lest asked again.

That was more familiar to them. "Worry is ceaseless thinking of the object of one's worry," Uno said. "By that definition, yes, we worry of them and cannot do anything to stop such worry."

"If that is guilt, then yes we have guilt of failing them," Sano said.

Good, they were getting somewhere. Lest offered up the rune sphere so they had a clear view of it. "As I said, I wish to replace them with these objects, to replace Leon with this rune sphere. It will conduct the flow of runes through the rune sphere more efficiently than he can and it has no heart to suffer as he does. Thus, there is something you can do about your worry and guilt: help me replace and awaken him by letting me reach the rune spring."

"We cannot make such an action without consulting our master," Uno said.

And that could ruin his argument. "Your master and creator is dead," Lest said. "He cannot return to you to advise you. Since you cannot serve a dead master, remember that your other role is guarding the guardians. Do what is best to fulfill the role you can by stopping their suffering."

The foxes were quiet for a minute, making Lest worry briefly that they'd gone inactive. They were very old creations after all. Just as he was wondering if he should use the Escape spell to keep from slipping off trying to get down the ladder, Sano and Uno became enveloped in a light that rapidly shrunk. They reappeared as the size of normal foxes, able to move around even though they still had a stone appearance. "That does seem best," Sano said.

"You are our master's descendant," Uno said. "It seems acceptable to take advice from you until we determine our new master or the guardians no longer need us as guardians."

"Good, then let's get going," Lest said with a smile. He followed the pair down the stairs within the left ear of the fox tower, immediately loosening up now that he was no longer on that perilous platform.

It had been a long climb up and it was a long climb down. There were no windows, but Lest could feel the descent of the sun towards the horizon in his blood. Without being asked, the foxes made their now fluttering scarves glow brightly, casting red and blue light on the walls so there was no risk of him making a misstep. His shoes left noticeable marks in the dust that had been blown in over the centuries. Had anyone else descended these stairs since Darryl was alive? The air felt heavy with time and Lest sometimes thought of using a wind spell to stir it up. But he was still able to breathe and wind would cause dust to fill the stairway.

The stairs were formed in a mirrored spiral, the two pathways occasionally meeting up before sweeping back out. And just like outside the tower, there were streams and mushroom-like growths of the corrupt runes inside. Sano and Uno took turns darting down the stairs ahead of Lest, coming back to inform him of which way was safest from the corruption. There were points when he needed to duck under a stream or place his steps carefully to avoid what was on the stairs. At one point, he nearly brushed his hands through one of the streams and got a shower of white sparks in response. The jasper charm was vibrant with power, reacting to its purpose. If he actually touched the stuff, being impure runes, that might really mess him up.

Eventually, they got to the bottom of the stairs to find the room with the rune spring. There was no floor here, just the bare earth enshrined in a chapel. Right in the ground, Lest saw a structure of runes unlike any he'd ever seen before. It reminded him of an illustration he'd seen of the structure of a muscle, thick fibers woven together to form a pulsing organ that pushed runes through it. On seeing it the first time, Lest felt something wasn't right with it. It was tightly constricted, struggling to keep the flow of runes passing through it. As a result, there was a vast quantity of stagnant dull runes lying below the spring, a bloated mass that strings of the corrupt runes ran through.

"Careful," Sano said, lowering his stance. Uno had her ears held back, staring up at the wall at the same spot her twin watched.

There, Lest saw something he'd missed in his interest in the rune spring. It was quite a thing to miss, an object that should have drawn his attention immediately. On the back wall of this chapel, what seemed to be an elaborate coffin was hanging eight feet off the ground. Built entirely of black stained wood, it bore a sculpture of an intimidating powerful man with the head of a fox and spread of nine long fox tails arrayed behind his head. What seemed to be golden geometrical wings spread out behind his legs. It held a strange collection of runes, ones that made Lest wonder if there was an actual body inside.

Body... "Is that Leon's body in there?" he asked.

"His body was entirely warped into that monster," Sano said.

"Sarcophagus gets out of here from time to time and devours the flesh of travelers," Uno said. "It seems inactive now, but that could change in an instant."

"That has to be quite a nightmare, seeing your body mutated into a monster that eats others," Lest said. "But it must be just one suffering among others if my thoughts are right." He put the rune sphere against his chest, sending a reassuring sensation through him. "We have to deal with it to bring him back, but if it's inactive, let it be for a bit. I'm going to place the rune sphere."

"We shall observe," Uno said. As Lest walked forward, the two foxes came close to his sides, ready to protect him at any second.

He knelt by the spring and heard a weak voice nearby. What it said was hard to tell, but Lest paused and looked back up at Sarcophagus. The monster hadn't stirred yet. He then turned his attention the the sphere and spring he had to bring together. Because a lot of this was theory that had been untried, he had only vague instructions on what to do here. To him, the thing that made sense was to use his rune breaking power to briefly disrupt the sphere and the muscle of the spring, giving them a weak point at which to merge them together. He could only trust in the natural flow and actions of runes to patch up such a break. That was what he did, putting the sphere physically in the center of where he saw the muscle structure, then briefly activated his power to disturb the bonds of runes and reattach them so the structures joined together.

A shine raced across the surface of the rune sphere; the muscle vibrated in a way that was out of sync with its normal motions. Then the two latched onto each other and began to change. The muscle rebuilt itself through the rune sphere, and the sphere stretched its own structure out to follow the spring's muscle. At first the beats were rough, distressing the whole structure. Lest started to sing the earthmate's pledge to remind it of the love between earthmates and the earth. The structure then loosened and expanded, growing rapidly to and through the walls of the tower. Finding himself within the rune spring itself, Lest became powerfully aware of the runes around him. There were all sorts there, mostly earth-based but other elements flowed through to spread to the surrounding area.

Below, the stagnant runes trembled but remained mostly a solid mass. That couldn't stay, Lest thought. The spring was stronger, but the stagnant mass would limit the flow of runes that could pass through it. In the end, little would change. Making his chi lines glow bright, Lest put his hands on the ground and sent his rune breaking power right into the stagnant runes to break them apart.

Those runes fell into smaller bond groups and were immediately swallowed up into the newly strengthened spring to be recycled and renewed. That led to a flood of runes swarming up through the spring that briefly overwhelmed him. Still, he smiled even as he struggled to keep his attention. This was how the ether sea should be.

There was a snarl from overhead, snapping Lest's mind back into the chapel instead of the runes flowing through it. Sano and Uno were still curled defensively around him while Sarcophagus pulled itself off the wall and waved its tails behind it. Sharp little crystals rained from the ceiling in response, sending the monster's feelings of bloodthirsty hunger all around them. But with the reawakening of the rune spring, Lest could feel a guardian's light overhead as well. Uno put a shield of ice over the three of them to defend against the crystals while Leon's soul struggled with horror and pain.

"My power is going to undo any spells you two cast in these conditions," Lest told the two foxes. "I'll hold off until those crystals stop."

"We shall coordinate with you," Sano said.

Once the crystal shower ended, Sarcophagus removed its golden wings and proceeded to whip them around like blades to break Uno's shield. Before it could, Lest broke the shield himself casting his counter magic. It caused the monster to drop its bladed wings and stop its many tails. However, Lest couldn't send his consciousness through the spell to get a better grasp on the arrangement of runes in the monster. Sarcophagus was furious at the counter while Leon recognized Lest from the dream not too long ago. His horror broke due to a sparked hope that maybe the nightmare was over.

"I need it to get down here," Lest said, trying to cast his paralysis spell at it. It didn't take as Sarcophagus managed to loosen one of its tails to block it.

Sano howled and caused streaks of fire to race across the ceiling of the chapel. Being made of wood, Sarcophagus dropped down in response. Uno joined in with ice and between the two of them, they got the monster to come down to the ground where it took its wings back up. Lest tried his counter magic again, but it seemed he was going to have to break it like he had with the butterfly dream curse. When he ran closer to the monster, the foxes countered the monster's attacks to keep them from hitting Lest. He grabbed one of its tails first and tried to examine it through that.

He got a brief sense of a rune structure that was much like a braided rope, with Leon, Sarcophagus, and etherlink bound together in what was nearly one whole. Strangely, he also found threads of the corrupted runes too, trying to tie the three together even tighter. It made him think of Storgane's words, that he only needed one heart in total despair and had six in powerful despair. Then those corrupt threads might be Storgane's curse trying to further torment the guardians.

Then Sarcophagus yanked the tail out of his grasp, wrapping its other tails around Lest's arms and legs. Horrifyingly, the sculpted fox face began to move and gnash its teeth. Just holding onto the monster wasn't going to be enough to let him break the runes as it would fight back. Lest needed a more powerful and meaningful contact. Sano and Uno combined their spells along with a paralysis effect in order to get what he had failed to do, Sarcophagus slowed down some and not able to move as readily.

Meaningful contact... a kiss was powerful contact between two beings. However, Sarcophagus wanted to eat him and Lest wasn't sure he could bring himself to go that far unless nothing else was working. But a hug could be powerful too with the advantage of constricting the monster's movements. He just had to keep in mind that although this looked and acted like a monster, it was actually a human's body. This was a person that he wanted to save even if he had chosen this fate himself. At the time, Leon could not have had any idea that his decision would eventually lead to this. That thought let Lest wrap his arms around the coffin and hang on tight.

Sarcophagus snarled and started to shake. But this close to it, Lest immediately knew how the rune structure here worked. He picked out the runes specific to Sarcophagus and began to tear them out of place in the braid. The coffin was frantic in response, nearly throwing him off. When one of the tails brushed by Lest's right hand, he snatched it to keep his grasp before breaking apart more of the monster's bonds to Leon. It began to lose power, its face going still and its struggles becoming weak. Lest kept focused on his rune breaking. Once he knew the last of the monster bonds was gone, he latched onto the rune flow coming through the spring and flushed Sarcophagus with it.

The coffin wrinkled and softened, turning from wood to flesh. The blacks melted and turned to living colors, a browned muscular skin and thick blue hair. While the body shrunk some, Leon turned out to be a tall man with a strong chest, quite heavier than Lest. He was wearing an outfit that seemed strange to Lest: no shirt but a pair of long wide pants, a short fur cape with a striped vest, a jeweled cloth belt holding Venti's charm and a fan of beautiful feathers, leather sandals with symbols of gold, blue tattoos similar to carvings on Sarcaphogus, a cloth hat with ancient symbols, and a long set of metal chains attached to black bands around his chest, wrists, and ankles. Lest also found that he was still holding onto a fox tail and that Leon's ears were tall and wide, very much like those on Sano and Uno.

"He is alive and not there," Uno said as Lest tried to keep hold of Leon's body when it nearly fell out of his arms.

"Yeah, his spirit's still separate," Lest said, kneeling down slowly to place Leon on the floor. He wasn't sure how long he could support the larger man's weight. "And etherlink is still active. I need his cooperation to undo it."

"His spirit is here," Sano said.

He nodded as he placed one hand in Leon's and the other on Leon's forehead. Like with the weaker curse, he could get a clear picture of how the runes of Leon and etherlink intertwined. But this time, the enchantment was so old and potent that it created a nearly natural structure with Leon's life. There were also those threads from Storgane, mostly broken but already trying to rebind themselves and restart Sarcophagus' existence. Lest could also see runes of Leon's own emotions that were going to undermine this effort. Not only the loyalty and love that had brought him to become a guardian, but also an awareness of Venti's loneliness and suffering that brought guilt and loneliness to Leon. Those feelings looked as though they could reform the core of Sarcophagus, which Storgane would use to revive the whole monster.

"Leon, you don't have to suffer like this now," Lest said, looking at his face.

There was a twitch to his cheeks but his eyes didn't move or open. Elsewhere in the room, Leon said something that Lest couldn't hear the words to. But he could tell the emotions, which indicated that Leon couldn't hear him either. The guardian couldn't even tell that he was still in the room, leading to a swelling of despair that perhaps this hope had been mistaken. He was even troubled about distressing the other guardians.

This was a more powerful enchantment that needed a more powerful dispelling. This environment was perfect with the rune sphere blended nearly entirely into the rune spring now, sending a strong flow of new runes all around them. Looking at the two foxes, Lest said, "Fine, I have to cut off my own awareness to a degree in order to make contact with Leon's soul. You'll continue to watch out for me?"

"Certainly," Sano said.

"Thank you," Lest said, then leaned over to embrace Leon again. He closed his eyes and focused entirely on the runes. After a moment, it put him back into a dream like state within the ether sea.

* * *

><p><em>AN: I felt like posting two chapters today. Twelve chapters to finally have one of the guardians in person, and I'm totally ignoring canon to free Leon first. But then I'm ignoring canon anyhow to avoid using amnesia, even for the guardians. Whee! The game itself gave me the idea of having Lest be rune breaker because it never explains how you're able to free the guardians simply by fighting their monster forms. Venti says it's due to your earthmate powers, but if it was something that any earthmate could do, you'd think that one of the four would have been freed already just by how long they've been around. After all, the RF heroes might be farmers, but they still go around dispatching monsters that are close to their community._


	13. The First Guardian of Ventuswill

**Chapter 13: The First Guardian of Ventuswill**

Give up and despair, Leon Karnak.

Your efforts were never enough.

You could never save her.

You were the one who made her suffer.

You continue to make her suffer.

You led others to choose the same suffering.

Your choices will always make others suffer.

You deserve to suffer.

Give up and despair, Leon Karnak.

Give up and despair.

* * *

><p>There is hope, a light from long ago. Long ago...<p>

His earliest memory was a fragment of light that felt as ephemeral as a dream, but his heart knew it to be truth. He was a small boy sitting in the field of flowers outside of Ventuswill's shrine, before he knew how sacred the place was and how important she was. The important thing was that he wasn't afraid of her. Singing a child's song of joy, Leon made the dragon smile when he took a cluster of tied wildflowers and put it on her head. He laughed and the simple magic there embedded itself in his heart for all eternity.

All eternity.

No matter how much the darkness and cold wrapped chains around him, it could not steal that tiny light from him even if it seemed like the only light left in his heart.

He could mock the darkness as much as he liked. It continually called on him to despair so he often laughed at it. Obsessed about suffering, it cycled the same words so often that they started to lose meaning. He would not despair for it. He would like to say he would not despair for anything, but...

Sometimes the tiny light flickered in someone else. Ventuswill remembered that simple moment too and it warmed her heart. Then she'd immediately remember another time, the last moment their eyes crossed. The air was full of delicate spring petals falling on sun kissed breezes. She had been uneasy about the plan and he was facing a destination that was a complete unknown.

"As beautiful as this place is, you want to spread your wings in the sky freely," Leon had said. "I want that too, I want you to be strong enough so that all people know the love in your heart. They're working hard to fix this and I'm sure it won't take long. I'll just buy them a little more time and be back to see the world with you again."

The divine dragon looked up to him as if she wanted to believe but she couldn't let go of her fears. "I don't like this. I don't want people to be sacrificed to me."

"It's not a sacrifice," he said, believing it at the time. "I just need to enter a different state of being to protect you better."

"You'll come back to me, you promise?"

"I promise."

And she had watched too, through the wind across the distance to the foot of the towering fox to the west. There was an old man that Leon had always thought of as a wizard, capable of crafting miracles through song and stopping hateful evil no matter how powerful it was. Darryl had Leon dress in a ceremonial fashion, as if he were acting as the interpreter between the divine wind and mankind. As that wind bushed across his cheeks and gave wishes that he would be safe, Leon knelt before the wizard and held still as he spoke in the language of magic.

A dagger was placed against Leon's shoulder and he reminded himself that this wasn't a sacrifice. He was just being put to sleep so that his mind was free to watch the runes flow in this location and make sure no spirit monsters interfered. This was for Ventuswill, to make her strong. When the dagger was placed against his lips, Leon looked up at Darryl, whose eyes told him to remain calm. Leon remembered others who had said goodbye to him before they had left for here, one face nearly making him want to back out. But no, it was more important to help Ven. The wizard then covered Leon's eyes with his fingers and spoke the words that sent his soul into the ether sea.

The thing he first faced there was the ghost of a insane god who hated mankind so thoroughly that before Leon could even think to fight, Storgane took his heart and crushed it.

* * *

><p>It started with a bit of mischief. His father was a very serious man who tried to put him in the same strict cast, but Leon thought people who were too serious ended up looking silly. The only reason he went along with the priestly lessons was because they would guarantee that he could stay with Ventuswill. While she was a goddess, she was so small, cute, and sweet that Leon preferred to see her playing among the flowers than sitting as a divine figure while people prayed to her. So one day, he suggested half in jest that, "We should run away on some beautiful day, take to the roads and spread divine goodness to everyone, not just pilgrims. And on the way, we can see all the sights that the world has to offer."<p>

"Wow, that sounds fun!" Ven said, smiling and showing off her long dragon teeth. So one beautiful day, Leon, Ventuswill, and Darryl's granddaughter Maria all ran away from the tiny village of the shrine to see the world.

And it was fun: climbing mountains, exploring forests, seeing new flowers, chasing new winds. And then the ocean! They came to a long beach full of soft sand and vast waves, the expanse of dark blue ocean spreading below the bright blue sky. No one else was around to stop them from racing across the sands, splashing in the salty water, playing ridiculous games that brought nothing but grins, catching new fish and roasting them over a merry fire. It seemed like the wonders could never cease.

Then they woke up late in the day to find that Ven was ill. She tried to get up off the sand but couldn't even lift herself on her legs. Her scales and feathers fell away at Leon's touch and she was clearly in a lot of pain. On being asked, she admitted that she'd been feeling bad for at least three weeks on their trip. But she didn't want to stop their fun and so kept pushing herself until this day when her body refused to keep up.

They thought that maybe taking it easy a day would get her back to normal. A day turned to two, then three, then a week. Leon kept smiling and tried to keep her spirits up, but one evening when she barely responded and he knew it was his fault for not noticing her troubles before, he cried and couldn't stop apologizing. The next day, he went to a town they'd seen and bought a wagon and Buffamoo with some of the natural treasures they had found along the way. That was the only way they could get her back home, a painful trip in his heart.

When they got back, Ven started to recover but Leon's father was not going to forgive him easily. Leon argued with him at first. However, the truth came out and it was just as he feared. It was his fault that Ven had grown ill. She might seem strong but she was actually weak for a goddess. Taking her away from her birthplace had nearly killed her and it had been Leon's idea.

That made him start taking his studies as a dragon priest seriously. But it was all to find a way to save his best friend. Leon would serve her and find a way to save her. No matter what it took, he would make sure she could go see the ocean once again and actually enjoy it that time.

No matter what it took.

Even having his heart crushed by an insane god.

He'd promised he'd come back.

He'd said it wasn't a sacrifice.

But he would sacrifice himself for Ventuswill.

They both realized that and Ven would wait for days and days in her flowers waiting for him to return, knowing that he loved her enough to give up his life for her. Her loneliness and grief grew, eventually flowering into guilt because she couldn't be strong enough to stop him. Leon kept calling out to her, telling her that they were still connected and he would keep his promise. While he could hear her sorrows, she couldn't hear his voice anymore. And that darkness continued to speak of despair to where even he had a hard time laughing.

Then Leon screamed into the ether sea, despair clamping onto him as tight as chains. Everything went dark and his body reappeared in the rune spring. Desperate, he tried to wake up only to find a coffin snapping over him and closing over him in death. He was a sacrifice that would never work. He felt like he was losing his mind as he passed through the walls of the tower and looked over a group of people out there. But real insanity didn't set in until Sarcophagus consumed its second victim, the first being Leon himself.

He despaired and it seemed like the only future in store was to one day close his heart completely and cease to exist.

Yet there was that tiny light continuing to shine. The feel of soft grass on his bare feet, the smells of the colorful wildflowers, the smile that kindled a true friendship... Leon wept and started to sing that song again, a childish song but one that meant so much. His heart warmed and he could almost feel the touch of Ven's wind trying to brush away his tears. The darkness told him to despair and he sang because if he didn't, he might actually listen to it.

For a long time, Leon was a song.

* * *

><p>Then another guardian came. Leon heard the darkness start to speak to that one as well. Even if Storgane's attention wasn't on him, Leon felt a terrible pain that someone had followed in his footsteps. How much time had passed? He'd lost all sense of time well before the chains ensnared him. But as soon as he realized it, it no longer mattered. There was another guardian who was going to be tormented exactly as he was.<p>

But in order to be a guardian, that person had to hold the same love has he did. Leon had never managed to communicate with Ven, but he tried to call out to the second guardian. He tried to warn of Storgane's torments and what was to come. In the currents of the ether sea, his words were turned to dust, never to be heard.

"Don't give up hope!" he called with all the power he had, trying to reach out.

The words did not cross. The feelings did. Then feelings returned to him, naive hope and bewilderment at the dreams she had entered. A bond was forged and Leon felt some hope return to him. While their words could never meet, they still became friends. The second guardian had a voice that was breezy and cheerful. Leon no longer felt alone and his heart began to heal.

And then Storgane crushed her heart too. Leon didn't know how it happened. He knew when it happened, as he heard her scream as despair filled her. At first, he was terrified. If he never knew her words, could he really know her? Could he really call her a friend? But no, having no words didn't matter. Their feelings still reached each other. Leon tried to encourage her and faced a torrent of her tears. Despair tightened its grip again, so Leon turned to the only way he knew to face it. He began to sing, as loudly as his heart could manage to reach his friend.

It took some time, but she began to sing with him. He didn't know what light she had in her heart. While his own light was tiny, it seemed to be enough to share. And some of her light came back to him. Leon sang of hope, that one day they would both awaken and return to Ventuswill. She agreed; she had promised as well. They sang and hoped and dreamed... sometimes nightmares that caused one or the other pain, but they would sing and the nightmare would eventually pass.

Then a third guardian joined their bond. Her voice had an incredible range, burning strong against the darkness but glowing gently for them. But even she fell to despair. Leon and the second guardian combined their songs to bring her back. Yet there was a pain in Leon's heart that was growing stronger. They had followed the path he had forged, not knowing the terrors it held. The grief was strong, but his desire to lead and protect the other two was strong as well. He let the second guardian sing of awakening, focusing his own songs on keeping the other two out of despair. Doing so kept himself out of despair.

And then, a fourth guardian. His voice was soft and flowing, a ripple that all three of them missed until he too screamed in despair. But unlike the two girls, the fourth guardian fell right into the same insanity Leon had went through. It shocked them and nearly threw them into the same state. Leon felt the brink of insanity as well, but he immediately threw all his attention and songs at the fourth guardian, trying to reach him and forge a bond with him too. The two girls noticed and joined in, fighting their own despair to sing in the turbulent waves. Eventually, he came out of the insanity singing in his soft sorrowful tones.

The four of them sang together, being a song together.

Leon was the lead voice, ignoring his own pain to save the others from theirs. The second guardian held much of their hope, voicing their dreams of awakening from the nightmares and returning home. The third guardian became much of their strength, defying the darkness to ignite light within. The fourth guardian blended their melodies, reminding them all that they weren't alone.

It was the best way to begin laughing at the darkness again.

* * *

><p>And then something else changed. The ether sea had long been dark and still. Suddenly, it became filled with brilliant light and vibrant motion. The song of the guardians briefly stopped as they witnessed an angel with a golden halo appearing before them. The angel had eyes of gentle violet, a rarity of color with a rarity of voice. He spoke and some of his words actually crossed the ether sea, the first real words that Leon had heard in a long time. "Don't give up hope. You will be freed of your obligations before long." Then the angel melted away, his light remaining in the ether sea for a long time.<p>

For a time, they were laughter instead of a song.

Storgane hated it.

Now the angel was back, but only Leon was seeing him. It was in flickers, his light sparkling around him. But Leon could also see the twisted monster that his body had become, trying to devour the angel. His song became anguish and the other three were quick to reach out to him. He tried to reassure them that it was the angel, apparently at the tower trying to awaken him. But what if he died there due to Leon and killed their strongest light in the darkness yet? He didn't want to be responsible for causing his unseen friends such devastation.

Things started to grow dark except for those brilliant sparks. Leon found himself shaking and full of pain. Real physical pain, not the emotional pain that had been constantly around him. The song of the others was filled with worry, but then wrapped around him in the reassurance he had always given them. Even the water guardian, ever the quiet one, was singing stronger to make sure he reached him.

But he was having trouble finding his voice.

Then two more voices joined in, both able to speak in words.

Give up and despair, Leon Karnak.

Your efforts were never enough.

You could never save her.

You were the one who made her suffer.

You continue to make her suffer.

You led others to choose the same suffering.

Your choices will always make others suffer.

You deserve to suffer.

Give up and despair, Leon Karnak.

Give up and despair.

"Leon? I'm here to wake you up.

Do you feel the strength around you?

I've empowered the earth rune spring.

You're no longer needed here.

But Venti needs you as a friend now, not a guardian.

She's waiting for you and the others.

I don't care what your past is.

You're a friend of my friend.

I forgive you.

Please wake up, Leon Karnak."

Forgiveness...

Leon laughed again, a brilliant sound that lit up the ether sea. The power of earth was strong around him. "We can be free!" he called out to the others, not caring that the words would probably be lost as usual. The meaning would get to them. "I'm sorry, I have to leave you now. But I'll be right there when the three of you wake up too. I promise, we'll finally meet face to face and be able to sing together for real."

They were happy, possibly the most beautiful thing he'd ever heard. They were happy to let him go for he had been in this darkness the longest. And, it was a promise, just like they would come back to Ventuswill. They would come back to her and sing together. Sing for Ventuswill's health and happiness. Sing for their freedom.

Capturing one of the golden sparks to light his way, Leon left the ether sea.

* * *

><p>Spring 25, 1611<p>

The bonds between Leon and the etherlink enchantment were stronger than the bonds both had with Sarcophagus. But once the guardian agreed to awaken, the outer bonds weakened and Lest could pull them apart like undoing a zipper. Getting etherlink out of Leon's body was harder, as he had to reform some binds between Leon's body and soul before he could safely increase the flow of runes through him and take out etherlink fully. Lest hung onto Leon until the bonds seemed secure and able to repair themselves fully.

This meant that he missed Leon waking up until he put one arm around Lest's back and the other on his head to stroke his hair. "Hello beautiful," Leon said.

The infatuation wasn't nearly as choking as it had been in the girls. Lest wondered if it was because the more complex arrangement made it seem more natural to Leon. In that case, it was going to take a lot more than a few minutes and some distracting to free him of that. Lest opened his eyes and lifted his head to look Leon in the eyes. "Hello sleepyhead," he replied. "You sound like you're still dreaming."

On seeing his face, Leon recognized Lest somehow. How? Maybe it was from the dream earlier. "Feels like it, waking up to an angelic face like yours," he said. "I could stay here like this forever."

Since he was already infatuated, might as well use it to guide him. Lest pushed himself up onto his knees, much to Leon's disappointment. "Might feel like that. But we probably shouldn't stay in this rune spring for too long. It's rather powerful and you don't need that kind of runic disturbance while recovering."

"If you say so," he said, sitting up as well. His ears flicked at some irritation, causing a strange look to cross Leon's face. He put his left hand on the side of his head to feel the furry ear there. "Wait, what's going on here?"

"Your body was transformed for so long that it took on aspects of the monster Sarcophagus," Uno explained.

"Your native powers have changed as well," Sano added.

"Hey, could be worse," Lest said with a smile.

Leon's tail swept across the floor on hearing that, getting him to notice that too. After grabbing its tip and pulling it around to see, Leon said, "Well this is going to be interesting. But nice to see that you two rockheads are still hanging around."

"Certainly, we were assigned to watch over you," Uno said.

"We have kept physical intruders from harming you, but we feel guilty in not being able to do anything about the spiritual intruders," Sano said.

While Leon tried, he wasn't able to suppress a shudder at that. "It's… fine," he said, glancing aside. Then he lifted his hand and looked at the metal band and chain still there. It was gone from around his chest and the chains faded away into nothing after a foot, but they were still attached to his wrists and ankles. "What's the deal with the chains? You kinky like that?" He looked over at Lest and raised an eyebrow.

"No," he said. "It's the remains of Storgane's curse on you; I wasn't able to get rid of those entirely."

"His curse remains?" Leon asked, puzzled.

At this point, another voice joined the conversation. "It's not a mistake, it was merely unanticipated and this will still work."

They all looked over at a spirit now in the room, one who appeared to be an old man in a green armor cloak much like Lest's. The two stone foxes went to him immediately. "Master Darryl," Uno said with respect.

"What the hell is the guardian doing awake?!" Darryl's spirit snapped at them, making Sano and Uno step back with their heads lowered in shame. "It's going to disrupt the ether sea and the balance of power here."

Lest got up immediately and stepped between the foxes and Darryl. "Hey, I woke him up, not them. I replaced Leon with the rune sphere designed around etherlink."

"You shouldn't be messing with the ether sea on a whim," he scolded. "Its balance is very delicate right now and a major change like this could create a worldwide chain of disasters."

Even if this was supposed to be an ancestor of his, Lest couldn't help but get angry at that. "It's not on a whim, it's based on over twelve hundred years of research that we've been working on. I just happen to be the one who got sent to put it in place and free the four guardians."

"These foxes shouldn't have let anyone down here inside the tower," Darryl said, disgusted at the idea.

"He is your descendant and you said this wasn't in the tower," Sano said, still in a submissive poise.

"His logic was sound and his plan works," Uno said.

"You shouldn't have let anyone in while I'm working on my masterpiece! And there are no mistakes! Keep maintaining what I've done and all will be solved once I'm finished."

"If there's no mistakes, what's with all the corrupt runes and remnants of Storgane's power around here after so long?" Lest asked. "And if you can't complete your work in this amount of time, how much longer do you intend to make Ventuswill and everyone wait?"

Darryl had no doubt in himself and all doubt in the rest of them. "There are no mistakes because I never make mistakes. No one else can match my genius and I don't see why you idiots always have to question me. There is nothing wrong with this and I'm almost at the breakthrough I need."

Leon got to his feet and took his fan from his belt. "Hey wizard, let me ask you something. If there's nothing wrong with this plan of yours, then why are there three other guardians and why have we all been in a complete hell created by the evil god you were supposed to have slain?"

"Shut up!" Darryl said, shaking. His spirit was turning red in rage. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"I do because I was there," Leon said, narrowing his eyes dangerously.

"You're making the one you were supposed to help suffer," Lest said. "Along with those that were helping you, like the guardians and these foxes."

"It can't be my mistake, so it must be all of yours," Darryl said.

Leon then traced a rune of light with his fan. While Lest wasn't sure what he was doing, it seemed better to step out of his way. "Fine, you leave us no choice. Restless spirit, the time has long passed since you should have gone to rest."

"You wouldn't dare do that to me!" the ghost said, not even afraid.

"Let go of what binds you to this realm and return to the Forest of Beginnings," Leon went on.

"I still haven't completed my masterwork here!"

"Leave the world of the living to the living. Your mind needs to be cleansed in the purity of rebirth. I pray that the gods have mercy on you and judge you based purely on your life, not your clouded afterlife. Spirit, it is time to rest."

Throughout Leon's prayer, runes of light and love gathered like a golden whirlwind around him. Guiding that energy with his fan, Leon sent the prayer to surround Darryl. The ghost shrieked and tried to struggle, but the prayer was built upon the natural cycle of runes which made it difficult for a purely spiritual being to resist. The whirlwind collapsed in on itself, taking Darryl with it. However, a small fracture of corrupted runes remained in place, like a crack into the Forest of Beginnings.

"That was impressive," Lest said, although he worried about the sharp dip it caused in Leon's rune points.

He tapped his fan against his shoulder. "Well I am a priest."

He took Leon's arm, surprising him although it pleased him to have that contact. "Then let's get out of here." Lest then cast Escape to get out of the tower without having to go all the way up and down it again. Not only did he not look forward to that platform up top again, but he didn't think Leon could make it fully up the stairs. He was sure of it when they arrived in front of the fox tower's paws and Leon immediately collapsed without the support of the rune spring. The foxes were able to get out with their own magic and were soon at Leon's side with Lest. "What is it?" Lest asked.

It was clear from his pale face and weakened rune flow that Leon was having trouble adapting to being in a lower density of runes. "Sorry, I'm just, really tired." He managed to smile. "Heh, wouldn't think that'd happen after sleeping so long. Twelve hundred?"

"1224 years," Sano said.

"Crazy," he mumbled.

"Lest!" Forte ran over to them, her runes a mix of being cross and concerned.

"Good to see you," he said, guessing that anything he said wouldn't keep her from being mad at him.

"What are you doing here?" she said, just as scathing as he expected. "Leon Karnak is dangerous."

"You have no idea, honey," Leon said. At least he was able to crack a joke even if he could barely keep his grip on Lest.

When she stared at the part-fox man lying on the ground, Lest explained, "Forte, this is Leon Karnak. I just freed him from his duty as a guardian, but it seems he's going to need some time to adapt before we can get back to Selphia."

"Aw, but I wanted to go see Ven as soon as I woke up," Leon said.

"I'm not sure camping out here is a good idea," Forte said, confused but feeling some decisive action was better than none. "Could we get him back to town with teleporting?"

"Well his runes are really frail right now and I shook them up just teleporting through the walls," Lest said. "I don't know the kind of teleport spell that could take him across several miles safely."

Uno had been sniffing him, but she looked up at this. "We could arrange for a gentle transport," she said.

Sano nodded. "It seems our duty is still to guarding the guardians, thus taking him to safety is within our ability."

"All right, then can you take us all back to Selphia?" Lest asked. "And you do know where we mean?"

"At Ventuswill's dwelling, correct," Sano said.

"We will send you there," Uno said, her eye glinting blue while Sano's shone red. The two foxes howled, creating a circle of runes on the ground. Forte stepped closer to be more in the circle in time for a yellow curtain of light to wrap around it.

Watching the flow of runes, Lest noted that they would be creating the same kind of phenomenon at the location they were targeting. They shifted the very space around them to swap places, causing a few flower petals to arrive before the tower and some ancient dust to appear in Selphia's town square just outside of the castle's main entrance. It was very gentle for a teleport, in part because the active runes made no direct contact with any of them. The foxes didn't returned with them.

"We should probably get Jones to watch after Leon for a couple of days," Lest told Forte. "Could you get him?"

"Yes, but you're going to hear it from me later," Forte said sternly, then went to the clinic.

"Couldn't I sleep in your bed with you instead?" Leon asked, looking up at Lest.

"Sorry, not now," he said.

"Had to try. So your name's Lest, huh? Strange name for an angel." He closed his eyes.

"Try to stay awake a bit longer," Lest said, taking his bracelet in hand to call on one of the butlers to get Ventuswill.

"If you'll stay with me, sure," he said.

Then Venti came out of the castle to see for herself what was going on. She gave a cry of surprise and darted right over to crouch down next to them. "L-Leon? It's really you, this isn't a dream?"

"Don't ask me about dreams, I'm having a hard time convincing myself," Leon said, opening his eyes and reaching up to rub her chin. "My goodness, you've grown to be quite a lady."

Venti smiled although she was crying out of relief. "You've grown into your wild side. But I think that suits you." She rubbed her head against Leon's side, making him chuckle.

"I did my best in tying his soul to his body, but I think it's on the weak side," Lest told her. "Can you do something about that?"

"It's from coming out of the ether sea as well," she said, causing the wind to pick up around them. Green sparkles turned to tan all over Leon's body, tightening up those bonds and easing the transition. "There… I'm so happy to see you again Leon, you have no idea."

"I promised I'd come back," Leon said. "I wouldn't let you down."

* * *

><p><em>AN: This was fun to write. I would have liked to see more in the game of Venti's friendship with the guardians. You get bits and pieces though talking to them, but past some plot scenes you don't see them interact. They could at least have the emote and random clip conversations like all the townsfolk will have with each other at random._

_I also want to see Leon do more with that fan of his, since he never lets it go. It's such a pretty fan that it's a shame to leave it as just decoration. So now he can use it to cast spells with in this story._


	14. A Day of Lectures

**Chapter 14: A Day of Lectures**

Spring 26

Lest got about an hour of quiet that morning while he tended to his farm. While he had the northeastern field full of plants now, with a few among the trees in the southeast, the plants were all strong enough that he only had to water them, check for bugs and illness, and pull a few weeds. He'd planned for that so that he had more time to focus on retrieving the spheres and the guardians at this time. He didn't have a lot of personal money as a result of all the planting. However, he wanted to compensate Jones and Nancy for taking the time to look after Leon. He had picked up some wild herbs and monster items while he'd been out to the tower yesterday, so he divided them into a group to place in the shipping box, a group to put in a basket for the clinic, and a small group of the herbs for Porcoline. He added in some tender leaves of spinach and lettuce from his garden to the two baskets, hoping that would be enough for the chef to cover some of his meal costs.

Once he got back inside to clean up, it was clear that the quiet wouldn't last. Volkanon was there with breakfast and Lest's first lecture of the day. "Did you really have to go to a dangerous place like Karnak Tower on your own?" the master butler said sternly. "Most people who go there never come back. But more than that, you're the prince now and you have a responsibility to the people of this region. You can't be taking risks like that without warning anyone."

Thinking that he probably deserved it and it was better to just let it go, Lest finished washing his hands and dried them on a towel. He still tried to explain his situation. "I've told people before, I'm here on a mission to place the rune spheres in the rune springs. Even if they're all in dangerous places, I've intended to go to those places from the start."

"You could have at least brought someone like Forte with you and waited until you were stronger after your recovery," Volkanon insisted.

"I got delayed for more than I meant in that injury," he said, coming back into the bedroom. "And the elder told me to get the spheres in place as soon as possible. Besides, I'm not sure having someone along would have helped much."

"Two fighters are better than one out in untamed wilds." Even if he was lecturing, he let Lest get started with his breakfast. Probably because it kept him a captive audience in eating and not wanting to talk; Volkanon went on for a good ten minutes with stories and admonitions.

By the end of it, Lest started feeling a bit sorry for Clorica and Vishnal, given they probably got this treatment during their learning process fairly often. But they still loved him like a second father and it was clear that Volkanon was more concerned for Lest's safety and reputation. Once he was given a moment to say something for himself again, Lest asked, "Do you know anyone in town who can see runes without special equipment?"

That caused him to pause. "Well... Jones can read runes."

"He requires an adaptive enchantment that he's tied to his equipment," Lest said.

"Illuminata can, but..." he put his hand on his chin, stroking his beard.

"Same thing, but with her monocle," he said. "I read runes and chi as naturally as others see colors without needing extra help. The only other one in town that I'm sure can do that is Lady Ventuswill. Leon might be able to, but he's just arrived and I haven't confirmed it. And having been there, I can tell you that you absolutely need the ability to sense and interpret runes to get around safely. The whole place is laced with corrupted impure runes. I'll admit to not understanding them fully, but a close brush with some convinced me that they're incredibly dangerous and must be navigated around. Might even be lethal to someone who can't see them and walks into them by accident. While I didn't know before, now I definitely would not want to take anyone else along to that place unless I know that they can navigate the runes too. And that they won't risk having an enchantment or artifact broken, leaving them blind to it."

"Well that is definitely something to keep in mind," Volkanon admitted.

Lest nodded. "And I'm sure you've heard that I'm an empath. It's not easy to surprise me since I can read emotions and runes, getting a warning of what might come. Along with that, my power to break runes is required to get the rune spheres in place and handle them safely. My talents combined also let me disenchant the guardians and wake them up, something that really needs to happen because their creation may have been a moral mistake not far removed from a full human sacrifice. This all means that I need to get into those places to serve Lady Ventuswill properly and make her happy. I agree that it would be better for someone to come with me to the other places, but we need Forte here to protect the town while we've got the threat from the Sechs Empire hanging over us. Even with the Norad central knights here, she knows the town by heart and I feel it's best to keep her here to protect everyone else."

"You might have a difficult time convincing her of that," Volkanon said. "What about Leon?"

He shrugged. "He's probably a good choice, although I do need to speak with him later and see about that. Plus we'd need to make sure he's in good enough shape to fight." He looked up at the butler and smiled. "Look, I promise I won't go after the other spheres and springs alone if I can help it. I got impatient yesterday and various incidents kept me from returning even when I thought I probably should."

"Very well," he said, still reluctant but satisfied that he was acknowledging the danger and promising to not go alone. Volkanon leaned on the back of another empty chair at the table. "You can be a hard one to work with, Lest. There's many times when you display exactly the kind of attitude and wisdom expected of Selphia's leader. But then you go do crazy things like use a miracle to heal yourself, run off to fix ancient mistakes, and even when you showed up that first time in drag."

Volkanon clearly didn't like that last one, but it was one of those serious 'men ought to be masculine' attitudes that Lest often had trouble resisting some teasing with. "Well I only go out in skirts if it's a special occasion," he said with a trouble-making smile. "It wouldn't be surprising if I did it more often."

He frowned with an expression that said, 'how do you not see what's wrong with that?', much to Lest's amusement. "One would think it's better to make a good first impression."

"I was trying to evade bandits who knew they were looking for a guy," Lest said with a shrug. "Then I got to talking with Nem and Helena on the ship. I'm sure you know how easy it is to lose track of details such as time and what you're wearing when chatting with good friends."

"I wouldn't be comfortable in that kind of situation," Volkanon said without thinking about it too much. It caused a few runes of someone's funny bone being tickled to drift in from the hall. "Besides, what would your father say?"

Lest paused to raise an eyebrow at that, then in complete honesty said, "He'd say that I should have used makeup to look more convincing."

Volkanon groaned and slapped his forehead while laughter broke out in the hallway. "What are you two doing out there?" he barked, increasing the volume on his speech a couple notches.

As might be expected, Vishnal and Clorica came in the room. "We were waiting on today's meeting," the former said, struggling to keep a straight face. Clorica didn't even try, still laughing a little.

He glanced at the clock and realized that it was seven thirty. "Ah. How long were you out there?"

"You were talking about when Lest showed up in drag," Vishnal said.

"Did that really happen?" Clorica asked. "Oh no, what a sight to miss. Was it a pretty skirt?"

Volkanon was caught speechless at that while Vishnal put his hand to his mouth while he laughed again. "It was academical," Lest said. "I thought the ensemble was cute."

"You'll have to show me sometime," she said cheerfully, in an innocent fashion.

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Volkanon said.

Vishnal cleared his throat, then said, "Well you have said that we should learn some information on our master's hobbies and help out when needed." Volkanon's eyes went wide as he realized that was his advice, which set both of them back into laughing.

Lest smiled at the scene. "Don't worry, I wouldn't push it on a guy who isn't interested in the first place," he told them. Although he had the feeling that Volkanon might be interrogating Vishnal later on based on that comment.

Once he was done with breakfast, Lest went to his office for a couple of hours to take care of some the the little daily tasks he had to handle as prince. Mostly reviewing Forte's security reports, checking on any notices from the capitol, seeing what notes the patrolling knights in the countryside had. He also had a response from the Sechs Empire today about their query into the building on Selphia's lands. While it was a lot of highbrow language, he guessed that the gist of it was 'Don't **** with us, neighbor, or we'll raze your city'. This was something he needed to discuss with Arthur about.

He then got his second lecture of the day from Forte when she came in with a stony look in her eyes. "Lest, I thought you said that you weren't going anywhere dangerous yesterday."

"I said that I wasn't going to Yokmir Forest," he replied.

"You're not going to get away with exact words," she said and preceded to give him nearly the same lecture that Volkanon had given not that long ago (minus the comments on his attire). Lest sat through it patiently, filing away in his mind that he would have to watch that tactic around Forte now.

After she seemed done with it, Lest gave her a shortened explanation about the corrupt runes and how it turned out better he was alone. "But I already promised Volkanon that I wouldn't be going out to these places alone again," he finished with. "I'm hoping Leon can handle it because I'd rather you be here in town."

"Do you doubt my ability in battle?" she asked, skeptical and almost insulted.

He shook his head. "No, actually it's because I know you're good that I'd rather you be here. Your job is to serve Lady Ventuswill and protect her, right? But she cares deeply about the people of Selphia, so she would want you to protect the town and those who live here. You want that too, right?"

"Well, yes," Forte admitted.

"Good, and there's also this," Lest said, picking up the letter from the empire. "I have to check with Arthur, but I'm pretty sure this is trying to provoke a war with us. We do have a lot of help from the capitol with the region's defense, but is it enough? I have no idea and I don't like the idea of leaving the city without a capable defender. There's a few others who seem like they'd be good in a fight, but I feel more comfortable knowing you're around in case an emergency comes up."

"Err, thanks, although I'm not sure I'd be enough if we get the Sechs army marching through here," she said.

"If it were that big, we'd notice such a large group gathering," Lest said.

She nodded. "But for a small group, then I would do all I could to drive them away. Still, you'd better take someone with you for this mission. You've only been here for a few weeks, but you're already important to many of us. I think you need to start taking into account the confidence and well-being of the whole community when deciding on these things."

"I consider the guardians to be part of this community because they all came from around here in the past," he said. "Which means I do want to get them back home soon. Fortunately, two are practically right here and it won't take us all day to go out and get them."

Forte frowned, still not entirely happy with this. But then she nodded. "Very well. But first, let me find my father's journal and copy down his notes on the locations as well as the non-returning monsters there."

Lest brightened at that. "Great! Actually, those non-returning monsters are important to getting the guardians back. I already put one to rest for good getting Leon back, so more information on the others will help a lot. Just don't forget that I have to go out to the northern ruins at the water rune spring too."

"There should be plenty of information about there too, since he and I have made sure to go out there at least once a year to make sure the aqueducts are secure," she said. After saying that she'd have those notes for him tomorrow morning, she left to return to her patrols.

Lest got his tasks done for the day, thinking that this work might increase in time. But that would mean that Selphia was growing again and would be a good thing. Placing the letter from the empire in with Porcoline's basket, he went to check on Venti in case she was awake and wanted to ask something of him. She was awake, and had the same concerns about him going off like he had yesterday.

"Do you know how worried I was when I realized you were all the way out there?" the dragon said, trying to be strict but her worry overrode that. "I admit I wasn't fully awake at the time, but I heard the foxes become active on the wind and realized it was your voice answering them. But then you three went down into the tower and I'm not entirely sure what the inside of that place is like anymore."

"Even with the earth spring revived?" Lest asked.

"Well I can tell now through that," she admitted. "Somewhat, the wind can't go far in there. I know the place is infected with corrupt runes like perverse mushrooms."

While there were some clusters like that, he'd seen it differently. "It's more like streams of the runes flowing from somewhere, perhaps the remains of Storgane's curse."

"I don't know if that is the source," she said, now thoughtful. "It's certainly drawing from it." Then she blinked and shook her head. "And don't change the subject on me! What you did yesterday was a reckless thing, going to the rune spring and trying to alter it and the guardian there without full knowledge of what would happen."

Lest shrugged. "Not much I can do about lack of knowledge because even as long as it's been studied, this part of the plan is pretty much all theory."

"And how do you know about that?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

Wile his sister had advised not mentioning it, Lest didn't think it'd be smart to avoid the truth here. "My mother's family is the one who's been studying etherlink, the rune spheres, and all of this going on here," he said. "Mom couldn't come here while she was alive because she was still affected by your word, but my sister and I aren't." When she got really worried about it, he put a hand on his hip. "Although she taught Frey all of it first; Frey's the one who actually knows etherlink and helped finish the crafting on the last rune sphere. I didn't know much about it until she grabbed me last summer and started telling me about it. Keeping the son from the knowledge was a habit they started and I got pulled in primarily because they realized that my combination of talents would make me more effective in undoing etherlink on the guardians."

"Then you came here with the intent of freeing them?" Ventuswill asked, her feelings on him wavering.

Lest nodded. "Of course, it'd be silly to leave them in place." That might be what he'd tell anyone else, but it made him think on something sad, a deeper reason. After biting his lip, he added, "So I knew that my Mom was going to die about an hour before she did because of reading runes, but before she'd let me go get Dad and Frey, she made sure to tell me... a lot of people in my old town thought I was a burden and curse for being a rune breaker, among a few other things. But she thought that it was a gift based on the guilt and regret that had built up in her family after generation upon generation not able to find a way to get the guardians awake safely, that they had to keep resorting to what was pretty much a sacrifice of good people in what should have been the prime of their life. So getting this done as soon as I possibly can is really incredibly important to me to get this sin off my family."

"Oh," she said, her eyes softening and the simple response showing that she fully understood it.

He didn't want to leave her with such a heavy serious thought, so he smiled as best he could. "Although it was completely worth it when I saw you and Leon back together."

Venti smiled warmly. "It'll be a huge relief to me when they're all back home. In that case, I suppose I should tell you." She crouched down so that she was lying on the floor, her head closer on level with his. "About your rune spheres, I can tell where the other three are. One fell in Yokmir Forest and was claimed by a tree monster there. While it'll remain in place, you're going to have a difficult time getting past Amber's monster form of Ambrosia to reach the sphere or the spring. I think you'll be safe from her butterfly curse and Leon knows an anti-status prayer that will keep anyone else safe as well. But Ambrosia flies quickly through the trees, meaning even between the two of you, you're going to have a hard time pinning her near the ground. I've noticed that the range of your magic is pretty bad even with the casting gloves."

"Yeah, I've been known to break a spell while casting it many times when I was first learning," Lest said. "Plus, I ended up having to hug Sarcophagus and later Leon in order to get a good grasp on undoing those spells. The uncursing requires me to briefly flood their systems with love magic in order to get the monster and etherlink runes out of them, which makes them believe that they're crazy in love with me."

She laughed at that. "I was really seeing that in him yesterday? But then, I can't see a way to avoid that. You would need to get those runes out so they don't reform. Oh, but I think I should instruct you on establishing natural bonds a little better, so the tie between body and soul isn't as weak as it was in Leon then."

He nodded. "That'd be great, I was hoping the body's unconscious memory would be enough."

"It might not be so bad in the others as Leon's been under enchantment for over a thousand years," Venti said. "Back to the rune spheres, one fell on the southern roads, but was picked up rather quickly by a flower lion monster. It got mutated when it swallowed the sphere and has retreated to the flower lion's primary territory of Delirium Lava Caves. And the last one fell in a valley not far to the north. However, it got picked up by a roaming Twinkle Bird; they really like shiny objects. After it got in a losing fight with others in its territory, it took the rune sphere with it when it flew northward, eventually landing in the water ruins. Then it got killed by one of the monsters there who," she hesitated, then said in a quieter voice, "some of the monsters around the rune springs? They spring from the nightmares of the guardians. Not just the ones their bodies turned into, others that are usually extremely powerful for the area they're in, like the tree monster in Yokmir Forest. You're going to have tough fights to get them back."

"All right," Lest said. "Seems like the thing to do would be grab the one in Delirium Cave, then take it to Yokmir to put into the spring there. Once we free Amber, we can take the sphere there to Obsidian Manor and get the northern ruins last."

"Well," she said, hesitant to accept that plan. "It sounds logical, but there's some problems with it."

"What kind of problems?" he asked.

She rubbed her wing against her snout. "Well... like I said, Ambrosia will be fast and I don't know if a team of you and Leon will be able to get her to the ground without harming her. Marionetta would be easier for you two to handle first, plus that's Dolce there and she'd be an asset in battle immediately while Amber's not used to fighting. But then, Dylas is at the Water Ruins and, well I'm just not sure it'd be best to leave him for last even though that location and the monsters there could be the most dangerous of all. Although I feel awful already for whichever one of them ends up awakened last."

"Well think about it and I'll ask your advice again when I know Leon's fine with helping me," Lest said.

"I'd be shocked if he didn't offer without being asked," Venti said, then yawned.

After parting from her so she could nap, Lest headed out to reach the restaurant before the morning got too far along. He took the east road and got halfway there when he started feeling uneasy. Some of the runes nearby were taking on sharper edges. Looking up, he crossed eyes with Doug. He didn't get long to think as a hate laced with suspicion cut through his chest. Caught short of breath, Lest paused and put his hand on his chest, his mind frantically trying to keep calm and let the feelings pass by.

Doug had a cold expression, making it harder to tell what he was feeling beside the hate. Trying to smooth it over with politeness, Lest smiled weakly and said, "Morning, Doug. Something up?"

"Why should you care?" he asked. It might sound dismissive to others, but the words might as well have been barbed to Lest. "Only because it bothers you to have other people bothered? That kind of thing nearly got you kicked out of your last town, didn't it?"

"H-how did you hear about that?" Lest asked, a shiver running through him.

"Just around," Doug said, shaking his head and hurrying past.

Feeling an immense relief that Doug had decided not to say anything more, Lest hurried on to the restaurant. He didn't feel secure being out on the road with how he felt. But where had he heard about his empathy and that time he'd nearly become an outcast to the tribe? Certainly his friends in the postal crew wouldn't have spoken about the latter. Maybe word of his empathy was getting around town now that he'd told a few people. A cold wind cut through the trees, disrupting the self-control Lest had been trying to gather again. Did it have to be bad enough to start influencing the weather? He had to calm down. Just go inside somewhere and calm down.

"Super good morning!" Porcoline called out from the kitchen as Lest came in, not even turning from his work yet. But once he did glance back, he left off his work to lean on the front counter across from him. "Oh my word, what's wrong, Lest? You look a ghastly pale."

"I-I'll be okay," he said, his voice still shaking as he set the basket for Porcoline on the counter. "Something just… spooked me, I need to calm down."

Porcoline smiled and waved a hand out to the dining area. "Well then pull up a chair and I'll fix you up something relaxing real quick. On the house." He then went to go retrieve a few things.

Taking him up on his offer, Lest brought a stool over and sat there with his arms resting on the counter. If he got a grip on his nerves, he wouldn't accidentally summon a storm or something. It was just such a shock to run into someone who directly hated him again. He'd managed to get people back in Grelin down to indifference or acceptance towards him so they didn't often get angry at him. Coming here, the people were friendly and quick to like him. Running across Doug like that caught him completely off-guard. But, why Doug? Did it have to do with the incident back in the orchard where someone's hate of Ventuswill made him faint? It might have been him.

"Here you are, one fresh hot cup of relax tea," Porcoline said after a few minutes, handing him a teacup with sailboats painted on it. It was filled with a milky pinkish-brown drink. "With a splash of milk and addition of chamomile leaves to be extra soothing."

"Thanks, Porco," Lest said, taking a careful sip of it. It had been brewed quite well.

The chef smiled, but left him alone for a few more minutes while he checked on the progress of the upcoming meal. Lest looked into the cup of tea and kept thinking. At least the incident hadn't lasted long. A few more barbs and he might have really called up a spring storm in a panic. Still, it told him something. While Doug hated him, he saw when he was going too far and walked away instead of lashing out more. He wasn't unreasonable or heartless. He may have known about the empathy, but maybe seeing how deeply it could cut got to his normal empathy and caused him to stop. While Lest was really curious about what the story was here, he would need to handle this situation with care. Softening a person's hate could take years, he knew from unfortunate experience.

Once lunch was in a place where it could be left to simmer, Porco came around the counter and got a stool to sit by Lest. "Well you've got some color back to your cheeks, that's good."

He nodded. "Yeah, I feel somewhat better. Still kind of shaken, though."

"What's the matter?" he asked.

He went ahead and explained about the incident, although he declined the say that it was Doug who he ran into. "Something needs to be done about it, but I really don't want to turn anyone against this person," he finished with. "It's a slow process to bring someone down from that."

"Well if you need help with this person, I'll do what I can," Porco said. "I'd even keep it under wraps if that's what you'd want."

"Thanks, I'll keep that offer in mind," Lest said with a smile. "Oh, and I came here because I got some things from my garden I wanted to give you for use. Here, it's mostly baby greens and some freshly dried herbs."

"Those could be nice to throw in a spring salad," he said in delight. Seeing that, Lest wondered if it was possible for him to be down for long. People like that were lucky.

After thanking Porco for the tea and feeling a lot better, Lest went to the next room to find Arthur. Sure enough, he was there working as usual. Arthur had three newspapers, all spread out on a table while he used a highlighter to mark certain lines, a pencil to make notes in a notebook, and a long bookmark to keep focused on particular information. When Lest glanced at one of the highlighted sections, it was all numbers and abbreviations that didn't make much sense. The page was labeled 'Marketplace Data'; he wondered just how much information was in those numbers.

"Excuse me, do you have a moment?' Lest asked.

Arthur tensed in being startled, his pencil making a little extra scribble on the notebook. Then he smiled and quietly erased the mistake. "Oh Lest, it's you. Sure, I was almost done with this. What's on your mind?"

He passed over the letter. "We got a response from the Sechs. If I'm reading it right, they're basically telling us not to mess with them or they'll mess us up and blame a war on us."

"That doesn't sound good," Arthur mumbled, unfolding the letter and reading it for himself. After a minute, he sat down on the couch while Lest sat across from him and waited. He had just figured out that one of the highlighted lines addressed the supply and average price of wheat when Arthur nodded. "It's written to appear politically neutral, but your assessment is accurate."

"Then this whole thing with them building on our lands is an impatience thing?" Lest asked. "They want to start a war with us and probably all of Norad, but for some reason don't want to be seen as instigators."

He nodded again. "It's because of other nations in the world that still trade with both of us. I wouldn't say it's entirely impatience, although that's certainly a factor. Since they do seem to be planning a war, it's in their favor to have a base of operations on both sides of the Maya Mountain range, historically one of the biggest obstacles for both of us in such a war. But if they were more open with building in and threatening Selphia, other nations would not approve of such aggressiveness especially towards a region at a disadvantage as we are. If they can make us appear as instigators, which actually wouldn't be hard because you are new to being a prince, they might be able to appeal it as a reactionary invasion and discredit Norad as a whole. They almost pulled off a similar tactic in the last war."

"But they're already in the wrong in building on our side of the range," Lest said.

Arthur shifted his glasses. "That depends on how long that building stays there. If they wait, they can claim that since we haven't complained, the building and the land it's on belongs to them and that can be fair cause to start a war. You'll want to file this letter away securely with the copy of the one we sent to them in case we need to prove that we did complain. All the same, we're not in a position where we can go do something about it. Our standing army is basically just Forte with reinforcements coming from central Norad. If we want to use the other knights to do something about it, we need to ask permission from the high king and the knight generals to do so, including convince them of taking an action that may lead to a war with Sechs. I'm certain the Sechs emperor is fully aware of this and taking advantage of it."

"It seems like the best thing might be to find some way to get rid of the building without making it clear of who did it," Lest said.

"Maybe," Arthur said. "Whatever we do will require careful consideration. I'll inform my father and gauge how willing he'd be to take action against the building's presence. At least find out what it is, that could help. If it is a military base, we could bring that fact out into the open and discredit them with their allies. Enough pressure on a global scale could get the Sechs to withdraw and stop acting aggressively." He shrugged. "That is, if they're sensible about it. There's been repeated signs that upper levels of their government are insane. For a few years, they insisted that they were the…" he clicked his tongue, then wrote 'Zzyyzx' on a newspaper margin. "An empire with an illogical to pronounce name. But they've been just sane enough that other governments still trade with and support them."

Hearing that, Lest had to agree that any action they made had to be cautiously thought out. "I see. Then yes, finding out the building's purpose safely and subtly is going to be important. At the moment, though, I'm mostly focused on my mission from the tribe, with the rune spheres and awakening the guardians."

"I heard that you've brought one of them back now," Arthur said, a little impressed. "I'm sure that will help us out as well, given what you've told me of Lady Ventuswill's worrisome depression. Just be careful that you don't end up badly hurt again."

He nodded. "I know. Although, given that we need to be careful with the Sechs, I'd like to ask about the royal airship we have on the airfield. My friend Helena says that it's in good shape and should be able to fly, but it's also unarmed with only light armor. But I was considering trying out for my airship piloting license soon in order to get around the region quicker. One of my next tasks will take me out to Delirium Lava Caves which can take a full day to reach and another to return."

"And we wouldn't want you gone for long," he said, thinking about it. "If the ship's unarmed, it should be fine to fly it around as long as you don't go near the Maya Road building. But I would take heed of air reports to make sure the warship doesn't come overhead again when you intend to fly. It'd go down as fast as the other."

"I'm sure of that," Lest said. They talked for a little longer, Lest asking Arthur briefly about the market reports. Then he excused himself to go to the clinic and check on Leon.

But when he got there, Leon had already left. "It seems a true rest was enough to put him at a good strength," Jones said. "Perhaps not full strength, so he may not be as good in adventuring and battling as he should be for a while. But I was confident in letting him go with the recommendation to exercise with plenty of breaks and extra care to eat healthy."

"Might need to keep an eye on him, since he's from so long ago and we wouldn't know what he considers healthy eating," Lest said.

Jones nodded. "True, but Nancy also told him about Porcoline's restaurant and I'm sure Porco wouldn't mind arranging menus with him in mind."

"That's good. I did bring over a basket to thank you for all the work you've done for me so far, especially since I'll probably send the other guardians to you when I bring them back." He passed over the gift basket.

"Thanks, just doing my job," Jones said with a warm smile, accepting it. "And yes, let me check over them too. There isn't much of a precedent for what you're doing, so it's best to keep an eye on them and act quickly if something doesn't seem right."

* * *

><p>"Hey Vishnal? Do you think there's anything weird about Lest?"<p>

"Um," he paused with his fingers on the checker piece he was intending to move on his turn. He had a couple hours off this morning, so he'd come over the the general store to hang out with Doug in that time. Across the board, the dwarf's gray eyes seemed far off in thought. They hadn't spoken much during the game; something was clearly on his mind. "You know I'm limited in what I can say about my master."

"Oh, sorry, slipped my mind for a sec," Doug said, scowling briefly then trying to get back to whatever thought he'd had.

Looking over the checker board, Vishnal could identify a set of moves that he could easily win with. But Doug didn't have his head in the game. Maybe he wanted to say something? Taking a move meant to extend the game rather than win it, he said, "Although there's plenty weird with him that most of the town already knows. Not creepy weird, he just... he has a really open mind, but you can tell that he has morals he won't betray. He loves everybody," then he rethought saying that, "Well I don't mean love love, I mean he sees the good in people and wants to help however he can."

"Sure it's because he loves people?" Doug asked, not noticing it was his turn. The question surprised Vishnal, although not as much as when Doug closed his eyes and added in a spiteful mutter he could barely hear, "He works with Ventuswill."

There was a moment he wasn't sure what to do or say. After biting his lip, Vishnal asked, "Pardon?"

"N-nothing!" Doug said, startled enough to bump into the checker board with his face turning pale. "Oh ****, sorry, didn't mean to do that."

"It's okay, you seem to have a lot on your mind," he said, giving a friendly smile. The clock said his break was only half over, so he said, "Want to restart the game?"

"Yeah, I'll try to pay more attention this time," he said, smiling but embarrassed as he picked up some pieces off the floor.

"But what would make you think Lest doesn't love people?" Vishnal asked, being careful not to make it sound like an accusation.

"Well he might be pretending to to take advantage of anyone who likes him," Doug said. "After all, nobody outside their tribe understands much of what earthmates really do since they keep a lot of secrets. But they have a tremendous amount of power, far more than any normal person could hope to attain in a lifetime. They could probably rule the world if they wanted. Maybe they even draw rune power out of others for their own use."

"That is a scary thought," Vishnal said. "Although, if they could rule the world but don't, doesn't that mean they don't want to?"

"I guess that could be, or they could be pulling our strings outside our notice." He was thinking again, although it seemed like he was trying to stretch ideas to fit a view he wanted.

"Since I'm sure he'd talk about it if asked, Lest gets his power from his farming," he said. This conversation reminded him of negotiating with his younger siblings, trying to introduce rational ideas gently. When Doug looked over at him, Vishnal nodded. "He believes his power came as a blessing from the earth, so he works hard in raising plants to pay back the blessing. Then the plants bless him in return for caring for them strongly, which makes him continue the work to return that blessing. It's an endless cycle for the earthmate's entire life, although the price they pay back varies between them."

"Sounds like an endless grind to me," Doug said. "I don't know if I could keep up with that."

"And somehow they love it," Vishnal said.

* * *

><p><em>I think it's interesting that one of Doug's noticeable friends even before he's revealed is a servant of the person he hates. Though Kiel probably brought them together as friends.<em>

_Actually, I like Volkanon a lot; he's awesome in so many ways. But he'd have some trouble getting used to this Lest. Oh yeah, and Lest's not kidding about his father._


End file.
